yt- 


i 


LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


PRINCETON.  N.  J. 


Presented  by 


ID r.  Webster  El.  IBrowru 

'.BSfc 


Division . 


Section 


t 

A  V  E  L  LETTER 
0  N 

COLOMBIA  . 

S.  A  ♦ 


/ 

By  Dr.  Webster  E.  Browning 
Educational  Secretary 

•> 

January  16th,  1923.  Thru  March  16th,  19^3 . 


issued  By 

COMMITTEE  OB  COOPERATION 
IN  LATIN  AMERICA 
26  Madison  Ave . , 

New  York 


/ 


♦  i'UREWCRD* 


This  letter  was  written  during  a  trip  of  over  two 
months  through  the  Eepubiic  of  Colombia,  to  my  wife. 

Some  friends  who  have  read  it  have  suggested  a  wider 
circulation,  since  it  treats  of  unusual  experiences  in 
a  very  interesting  but  little- known  country.  It  may 
also  serve  to  demonstrate,  incidentally,  that  the  trav¬ 
el  experiences  of  a  deputation  visiting  the  work  of  this 
or  that  mission  are  not  all  joy-riding,  although  they 
do  include  the  inestimable  privilege  of  meeting  and  know¬ 
ing  intimately  the  men  and  women  who  are  out  on  the  ad¬ 
vance  lines  of  foreign  mission  work. 

It  is  in  the  hope,  particularly,  of  interesting 
others  in  that  work  that  this  somewhat  intimate  account 
of  a  wonderfully  inspiring  journey  among  the  hospitable 
and  likable  people  cf  Colombia  is  now  sent  to  you,  witn. 
the  warm  regard  of 

The  Writer 

New  York  City, 

June  1,  1923. 


1 


On  the  fegdalena  River,  en  route  for 
arl  points  Souths  January  16,1933. 


The  Elder  unto  the  Elect  Laly  and  her  Children* 


Once  again  I  find  myse. 

TO  <  cv‘i  i  p-  .o.-'  T-,  v 


0  T: 


the  great  LUgfuiena  Elver...  plo-ighing  through 


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children, 

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Buster, 

re  turn!  ng 

to  Bogo 

ooard  one  cf  the  so-called  express  “boats  on 

ts  muddy  waters  toward  the  points 
at  and  my s  t  e  c i  ou  s  hi nt  e r- 


re turning  frcn  a  gatner- 
annual  general  meeting  of 
the  visit  of  the  deputa- 
W,  Reginalu  Wneeler,  my 


Baroer;  with  two  children,  Harlan  and  So flora ,  returning  to  Medellin;  three 
young  ladies,  yes, ’even  four-  who  a.re  either  returning  to  their  work  or  are  new 
and  going  up  the  river  for  the  first  time.  These  are  Miss  Retta  McMillan, 
Principal  of  the  Girls’  School  in  Bogota;  Miss  Doolittle,  Medellin;  Miss 
Russell,  who  goes  to  work  with  Miss  McMillan,  and  Miss  Parker,  who  gees  to 
Medellin  to  work  with  Miss  Doolittle,  These  last  named  are  new  and  will  put  in 
the  most  of  their  time  during  the  present  year  in  the  study  of  the  language. 


We  are  on  board  the  "Ayacndho",  which  is  one  of  several  boats  belonging  to 
a  new  line  that  has  entered  into  competit ition  with  the  older  lines  and  which 
gives  a  reduced  rate  equal  to  about  fifty  per  cent  of  the  old  one.  It  is  not 
equal  to  the  "Mauretania,"  in  luxury  and  the  convenience  of  its  service,  but  is 
a  good  deal  better  than  the  boats  that  I  travelled  in  on  this  same  river  four 
years  ago  and  is  not  at  all  bad,  especially  for  a  short  journey.  The  weather 
is  warm,  of  course,  but  not  unbearably  so,  and  we  can  always  find  a  place  which 
is  swept  by  the  breezes.  The  boat  is  open  from  one'  end  to  the  other,  so  that 
there  is  no  lack  of  circulation  of  what  air  is  moving. 


Tne  hour  set  for  our  departure  from  Barranquilla  was  eight  p.m.,  yesterday, 
but  we  did  not  get  away  until  about  half  after  three  this  morning.  The  company 
gives  nothing  in  the  state-rooms,  so  that  the  passenger  must  come  on  board  pro¬ 
vided  with  cot,  sheets,  towels,  etc.,  or  else  do  without  tziese  necessities.  My 
observation  leads  me  to  believe  that  the  majority  of  the  Colombian  passengers 
list  these  articles  under  the  head  of  "luxuries,"  and  so  dispense  with  them 
while  en  board.  The  rest  of  us,  cursed  by  the  toils  of  civilization,  have  brought 
the  full  list  and  have  made  ourselves  as  comfortable  as  possible.  I  nave  a  room 
to  myself  and  a  comfortable  cot.  I  was  going  to  buy  the  whole  outfit,  just  for 
the  trip,  but  the  friends  in  Barranquilla  loaned  me  bedding,  towels,  etc,,  so 
that  I  am  provided  with  all  necessary.  There  was  a  bedstead  in  my  room,  wit a 
no  mattress  but  with  wire  springs.  This  I  had  removed  and  my  cot  is  comfortable,- 
at  least  when  one  boat  is  not  in  motion.  When  we  are  moving,  it  begins  a  kind 
cf  war  dance  and  keeps  it  up  all  the  time! 

To  go  back  a  little,  -  we  had  a  good  despedida  in  Barranquilla.  Every  one 
has  been  most  considerate  of  our  welfare  while  we  were  in  that  city,  and  the 
whole  evangelical  community  seemed  to  be  at  the  boat  last  nignt  to  bid  us  fare¬ 
well.  On  Sunday  afternoon  three  of  the  young  ladies  whom  I  had  met  in  New  York 
at  the  time  cf  the  Conference  of  Outgoing  Missionaries,  in  1930,  -  Misses  Doodittle, 
McMillan  and  Tompkins,-  invited  me  to  the  Girls’  School  to  have  tea  with  them 
I  suggested  taking  Mr,  Wheeler  with  me,  but  they  said  that  it  was  a  "family  affair" 


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and.  that  no  outsiders  were  wanted.  So  I  went  up.,  not  knowing  what  it  was  all 
a"  out,  but  ready  to  absorb  the  cup  that  cheers  but  inebriates  not.  There  were 
just  the  four  of  us  present,  and  when  we  went  into  the  tea-room  I  found  a  Long 
roll  at  my  place.  On  opening  it  I  discovered  a  beautiful  cane,  made  of  the  fame  as 
palm  of  Colombia,  used  especially  for  this  purpose,  and  the  knob  formed  from  a 
capua  nut,  -  the  ivory  from  which  buttons  are  made,  -  the  whole  a  very  beautiful 
thing.  They  explained  that  I  had  been  like  a  father  to  them,-dcesnl t  that  make 
one  feel  young,  especially  since  no  one  of  these  young  ladies  is  under  thirty- 
both  in  the  above-ment L^ned  Or  if  erer.ee  in  New  York  City  and  here  on  the  field,  so 
tnat  they  wanted  me  to  have  something  on  which  to  lean  when  the  evil  days  come, 
tne  keepers  of  the  house  shall  tremble,  and  the  grasshopper  come  to  be  a  burden! 

I  shall  always  appreciate  this  gift  very  much. 

Some  of  the  missionary  men  looked  after  the  buying  of  tickets  and  the  putting 
on  board  of  the  luggage,  so  that  all  we  had  to  do  was  to  step  into  the  coach  at 
tne  &6or  of  the  school  and  step  out  on  the  docks.  The  ship  is  new  and  clean,  as 
cleanliness  goes  in  these  lands,  and  the  first  meal,  the  only  one  served  so  far, 

was  not  bad.  Mr.  Wheeled  and  I  are  to  be  on  board  for  about  four  days,  a  nuro 
lomo  de  mu la j  to  Buearamanga,  up  in  the  hills  of  the  Department  of  Santander.  The 
mule  which  I  am  to  bestride  does  not  know  what  is  coming  to  him  and  is,  today,  in¬ 
nocently  travelling  down  the  mountain  side  to  meet  his  fate  in  the  port,  Several 
of  tne  mission  said  they  had  a  great  desire  to  see  uDr.  Browning  on  a  mule!n  Well, 
it  may  be  some  one  will  be  ungenerous  enough,  to  take  a  snap  of  me  in  tnat  undig¬ 
nified  position.  If  so,  I  will  satisfy  my  family,  at  least,  in  that  particular, 

The  river  at  this  point  is  not  wide,  but  pours  its  tawny  flood  seaward  between 
high  banks  that  are  covered  with  a  dense  tropical  vegetation.  There  are  groups  of 
little  huts  scattered  along  the  bank,  now  and  then,  at  which  our  boat  stops.  The 
whole  population  turns  out  to  gaze  on  us,  -  men,  women  and  children,  most  of  the 
latter  up  to  eight  or  ten  years  of  agd  clad  only  in  the  hot  reeking  atmosphere, 
cat,  seemingly,  with  no  sense  of  shame.  It  is  a  case  of  primitive  man,  but  a  lit¬ 
tle  removed  from  the  simian  population  that  swings  and  jabbers  in  the  nearby  forests, 
and  the  whole  human  group  probably  looks  with  pity  on  the  representatives  of  their 
race  who  are  compelled  to  wear  clothing,  -  yea,  evan  stiff  collars!  in  the  midst  of 
such  heat.  Floating  islands  of  vegetation  go  swinging  by  on  our  larboard  and  on 
our  starboard,  and  the  whole  surface  of  the  river  is  dotted  with  branches  of  trees, 
shrubs,  flowers  and  sticks  of  wood  that  have  broken  from  the  forests  and  are  now 
c.i  their  way  to  the  briny  deep.  Water-lilies  and  hyacinths  seem  to  be  especially 
.lorrerous  and-  show  up  beautifully  on  the  gently  moving  stream.  The  water  is  per¬ 
fect  ly  still,  like  a  lake  of  silver,  -  or  burnished  copper,  since  it  is  so  dark,- 
bre ken  only  by  the  prow  of  our  boat  and  the  receding  waves  that  reach  the  bank  on 
either  side.  The  boat  burns  wood,  but  it  is  soon  to  be  converted  into  an  oil- burner; 
i-.ke  most  of  its  fellows  on  the  river,  which  will  obviate  the  necessity  of  tying  up 
t;  load  on  fuel,  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and  the  night, 

Wednesday  afternoon,  January  17,  1925 

Two  days  have  passed  since  I  wrote  you,  -  rather,  I  was  writing  you  yesterday 
morning  and  it  is  now  late  in  the  afternoon,  -  and  we  are  still  ploughing  along  in 
the  muddy  waters  of  the  Magdalena,  Tne  hours  seem  to  come  and  go  without  my  get¬ 
ting  much  done,  for  it  is  too  hot  to  allow  one  to  show  any  energy,  and  we  are  more 
oi  less  reacting  from  the  stra.in  of  the  long  and  tiresome  meeting  in  B&rranquilla. 

Mr,  Wheeler  has  been  laid  up  with  a  touch  of  malaria,  but  is  going  around  and  seems 
oetter.  The  mosquitoes  are  both  robust  and  numerous  and  seem  to  be  unusually  vora¬ 
cious.  Tney  get  into  my  room,  in  spite  of  the  netting,  and  other  passengers  report 
the  same.  One  of  the  young  ladies  loaned  me  a  bottle  of  evil- smelling  stuff  to  rub 
on  my  ankles,  -  which  seem  to  be  tne  special  goal  of  about  one  million  of  the  bichoo 
and  it  worked  wonders,  I  have  a  higher  opinion  of  the  intelligence  of  the  mosquito 
than  I  had  before,  for  it  is  surely  malodorous! 


' 

■ 

- 


'  t 

- 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological-Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/travelletteroncoOObrow 


-  o- 

We  have  desavuno  at  seven  in  the  morning,  breakfast  at  11:50,  and  dinner 
ab'TLC  6:00  p.m-  In  the  afternoon,  about  half  past  three,  the  ladies  serve  c^a  to 
our  own  crowd.,  and  cool  drinks  are  also  passed  around  by  the  boat  y.ocrgle*  C.-.e 
they  calk  "arena”,  and  I  judge  it  to  be  a  preparation  ox  oatmeal  with  a  little  mill, 
Jt  is  noc  bad,  but  one  hesitates  to  drink  any  water  on  the  boat  that  is  not  boiled, 
and  this  evidently  is  not.  The  food  is  not  bad,  although  pretty  greasy,  and  we  will 
geo  along  air  right  for  the  few  days  we  are  to  be  on  board.  I  only  wish  that  we 
could  go  right  on  to  Bucaramanga  in  this  way,  without  bothering  the  mule! 


As  I  sit  in  my  room  I  can  see  the  little  houses  that  line  the  bank  go  by, 
each  surrounded;  just  along  here,  by  a  grove  of  banana  trees  or  situated  back  of 
a  cluster  of  bending  coccanut  'palms .  The  panorama  is  altogether  tropical  and  the 
heat  goes  well  with  the  view.  We  stop  occasionally  to  take  on  wood  and  thus  lose 
a  good  deal  of  time.  We  are  announced  to  b.ekir.  Bucaramanga  for  Sunday  night,  but 
it  may  be  Tuesday  before  we  make  it.  Such  is  ]ife  on  the  Magdalena  and  far  away 
from  one’s  wife!  As  I  think  I  have  remarked  on  another  occasion,  this  would  be  a 
splendid  locality  in  which  to  establish  a  factory  of  suede  gloves,  -  the  supply  of 
undressed  kid  seems  inexhaustible !  Up  to  eight  or  ten  years,  clothing  seems  to  be 
considered  superfluous,  although  I  believe  there  is  more  of  it  than  I  saw  four  years 
ago.  This  I  found  to  be  especially  true  in  Barranquilla,  where  it  is  the  unusual 
thing  to  see  an  undressed  youngster,  whereas,  four  years  ago,  the  contrary  was  true. 


The  river  is  very  high  just  now,  so  that  no  sand-bars  are  visible  and,  in 
consequence,  we  have  seen  but  few  ca.ymanes.  Now  and  then  one  of  these  saurians 
may  be  sighted,  stretched  out  on  the  bank ,  but  they  are  few,  so  far.  Fafcther  up 
they  will  be  more  plentiful,  I  am  told.  I  bought  some  ammunition  for  my  ^atling 
gun  and  will  have  some  fun  shooting  at  them,  when  they  become  more  plentiful .  For¬ 
merly,  anyone  who  wished  might  ^et  up  on  the  deck  and  fire  away  at  them.  But  I 
believe  that  an  American  accidentally  killed  a  passenger  one  day,  so  that,  now, 
one  has  to  get  the  permission  of  the  captain  before  beginning  a  fusillade. 


Today  I  have  been  talking  with  a  Judge  who  lives  in  Medellin  and  who  seems 
to  be  somewhat  liberally  minded.  He  had  a  good  deal  to  do  with  getting  through 
a  civil  marriage  ceremony  and  was  excommunicated  therefor.  He  is  a  Catholic, 
however,  but  libera]  in  his  attitude  toward  Protestantism.  He  wants  me  to  give  a 
lecture  in  the  "Universidad  de  Anti  "  and  I  will  see  how  we  can  arrange  the 

matter  when  we  get  to  Medellin.  Tnis  is  one  of  the  best  universities  of  Colombia 
and  I  will  be  glad  to  add  it  to  they  string  of  institutions  in  which  I  have  lecture! 


I  have  presumptions  against  writing  more  than  a  page  a  day,  so  will  now  have 
to  close  and  go  to  something  else. 


January  19th,  1S23. 


I  am  sitting  in  my  room,  in  front  of  the  door  that  opens  on  to  the  narrow 
passage  that  runs  the  entire  length  of  the  boat,  and  can  look  out  on  the  stretch 
of  forest  and  the  high  mountains  in  the  background,  while  on  the  nearby  sandbars 
numberless  alligators  are  stretched  out  sunning  themselves.  I  occasionally  inter¬ 
rupt  my  writing  to  get  up  and  shoot  at  these  saurians,  but  so  far  I  have  hit  but 
one  of  them,  so  far  as  I  could  tell.  Tnis  big  fellow  shook  his  hind  leg  at  me 
and  rolled  over  into  the  river,  but  kept  up  a  commotion  after  ne  disappeared  from 
view,  so  we  decided  he  had  been  hit.  I  would  not  shoot  at  any  ether  animal,  but 
have  no  sympathy  for  tnese  ugly  brutes.  I  bought  a  box  of  cartridges  in  Barran¬ 
quilla  and  they  are  about  gone.  You  know  the  alligator  gets  his  dentistry  done 
free  of  charge.  He  lies  with  his  jaws  open  and  a  little  bird  picks  his  teeth  to 
get  food  that  may  have  stuck  in  the  hollow  ones.  He  never  hurts  this  bird. 


The  river  here  is  pretty  low  and  we  have  seen  several  steamers  that  were  stuck 
on  the  sandbars  that  now  appear  on  every  side.  One  was  quite  high  out  of  the 
water  and  the  men  were  lightening  her  by  carrying  the  freight  to  barges;  the  other 


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we  passed  in  the  night.  She  is  the  mail  "boat  ,  from  up  the  river,  and  was 
all  lighted  up, -with  no  place  to  go]  Y:e  are  not  crowing  much,  for  we  may 
also  get  stuc.it  some  place.  We  are  already  two  days  "behind  our  schedule,  so 
that  we  will  not  get  into  Puerto  Wilches,  where  I  leave  the  boat,  until 
tomorrow  morning,  when  we  should  have  got  in  yesterday  morning .  However,  I 
am  praying  that  we  may  not  get  in  'to  the  port  tonight,  for  I  do  not  want  to 
have  to  spend  the  night  there.  If  we  get  in  early  tomorrow  morning,  we  ought 
to  catch  the  train  that  runs  up  to  uKiiomet ro  27 ”,  the  end  of  the  line.  They 
have  been  working  on  this  line  for  forty  years  and  have  built  these  seventeen 
milesi  Good  work!  At  that  rate,  how  long  'will  they  be  in  completing  the 
wnole  line  to  hue  a  ramng  a?  Work  it  ant  by  alegbra!  The  distance  is  about 
150  miles. 


You  may  have  noticed  that  I  wrote  that  "I"  leave  the  boat.  Such  is  the 
fact.  Mr,  Wheeler  has  come  down  with  what  seems  to  be  malaria  and  I  am  to 
make  the  trip  to  Bucaramanga  alone, -that  is,  with  Mr.  Williams,  who  lives 
there,  and  Mr.  Barber,  who  is  a  member  of  the  Executive  Committee.  This 
is  not  at  all  to  our  liking,  but  seems  to  be  the  best  thing  to  do,  under  the 
circumstances . 


Should  we  arrive  early  tomorrow  morning,  then,  we  will  take  the  train 
out  to  the  end  of  the  line  and  spend  the  night  there.  We  carry  all  our  ovixi 
supplies,  so  that  all  we  will  lock  for  is  a  roof  under  which  we  can  sleep, 
in  case  of  rain.  We  have  food,  mosquito  tents,  etc-,  all  provided  by  Mr. 

Williams  who  is  looking  after  the  expedition.  Then  there  are  three  days  on 
mule-back,  if  ail  goes  well.  The  first  two  days  are  through  the  tropical 
forest,  where  there  are  boa  constrictors  and  such  other  pleasant  dwellers 
of  tne  jungle;  but  the  last  day  is  across  the  hixls  of  land  that  is  some¬ 
what  higher  and  should  be  cooler.  We  will  probably  stay  two  days  in  Bucaramanga, 
or  possibly  only  one,  and  then  return  by  the  same  route  to  the  river,  where  I 
will  hope  to  catch  a  boat  without  too  much  delay-*  Mr.  Wheeler  now  plans  to 
go  on  a  little  farther  to  Barranca  Bermeja,  where  there  is  a  large  colony  of 
Americans,  who  are  interested  in  oil,  and  go  to  their  hospital  for  a  few  days. 
Then,  if  he  is  able,  he  wi.li  go  on  to  Medellin  and  wait  for  me  thejpe-  I  will 
be  about  two  weeks  behind  him,  I  expect,  unless  I  happen  to  make  undsually 
good  connections. 


The  mosquitoes  have  been  getting  in  their  vv*ork  on  my  ankles  and  hands,  and 
I  have  been  making  liberal  use  of  iodine  to  kill  the  poison.  I  have  seen  able 
to  see  but  few,  yet  these  few  seem  to  belong  to  a  peculiarly  lusty  and  vor¬ 
acious  breed,  with  a  strong  thirst  for  blood.  I  suspect  that  my  bed,  too, 
has  other  occupants,  but  have  not  been  able  to  prove  it.  Yesterday,  ratner, 
the  night  before,  ty  couch  ripped  from  Ban  to  Beersheba,  so  that  I  had  to  geo 
another.  This  pleased  the  friends  who  seem  to  think  it  a  joke  and  blame  it 
on  my  averbupcis,.  However,  I  maintain  that  the  cloth  was  rotten  and  that  it 
might  have  ripped  with  any  one  else?  But  I  should  worry.  None  of  these 
things  move  me  and  so  long  as  I  can  side  step  the  malaria  I  shall  not  worry 
over  trifles  like  the  ripping  up  ox  a  cot. 

I  have  been  trying  to  work  a  little,  these  days  but  it  is  difficult. 

The  heat  is  petty  bad  and  at  night  there  are  exactly  seventeen  million  bugs 
and  other  insects  that  flock  into  the  rooms  where  there  is  a  light  and  make 
work  impossible. 

The  other  people  on  board,  of  our  crowd,  seem  to  be  pretty  well,  with 
the  exception  of  Mr.  Lee  who  suffers  from  asthma.  How  aprer, this  is  not  serious 
and  he  recovers  when  he  reaches  the  high  lands  of  Bogota. 


I  think  that  I  have  already  written  that  the  four  young  ladies  arranged 


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for  the  deputation  to  ?>t  with  them,  so  that  we  have  a  nice  little  table  for 
six,  with  Ivir e  Wheeler  at  one  end  and  I  at  the  other.  The  young  ladies  do  all 
they  cm  to  make  the  meal  pleasant,  bring  little  extras,  etc.,  so  that  the 
eating  is  a  pleasant  interruption  to  the  usual  tasks  of  the  day.  The  Allans 
have  another’  taol  e*  with  Mr*  e*nd  Mrs.  Lee,  while  the  Barbers,  who  are  four* 
nave  another,  wi  th  Im ,  Williams  with,  them-  in  Colombia  potatoes  are  supplanted 
by  bananas,  which,  a  rr  serv-d  in  i'll  so-ts  of  ways,  The  usual  stunt  is  to 
serve  then  like  Saratoga  clips,  with  the  meat  course.  Bat  I  don’t  care  for 
them  under  any  gn:  s e,  so  pass  them  up-  as  a  rule.  Cackleberries  seem  to  be 
abundant  and  X  subsist,  principally,  on  this  fruit,  I  do  not  think  I  shall 
ever  be  able  to  look  a  good  old  hen  in  the  eye,  again,  after  eating  so  many 
and  so  much  of  her  hard- won  product! 


This,  then,  will  be  my  last  appearance  for  some  two  weeks,  since  I  will 
have  to  leave  my  typewriter  in  the  port  and  pick  it  up  on  my  return  from 
Buca.raxn.ang a.  Then  I  hope  to  have  much  to  say  unto  thee,  which  I  hope  will 
prove  interesting,  The  difficulty  and  dangers'  of  these  trips  are  always 
over-estimated,  so  that  I  am  not  worrying  about  it,  but  expect  to  have  a  grand 
old  time.  If  the  boa  constrictor  constricts  me, -well,  then  I  won’t  finish 
this  letter,  that’s  all,  and  you’ll  have  to  get  the  details  from  another. 

But,  there1 s  no  danger  of  that, -only  I!d  like  to  meet  one,  just  to  see  what 
he  is  like! 


Bucaramarga,  Colombia, 

January  25th,  1923, 

My  last  was  from  on  board  the  "AyacuchoS  written  the  afternoon  before  we 
got  into  Puerto  Wilches,  That  night,  we  got  within  sight  of  the  lights  of  the 
port,  but  had  to  tie  up  until  morning  because  of  the  low  water  and  the  many 

sand  bars.  This  was  a  good  thing  for  us,  since  it  would  have  been  much  more 

disagreeable  on... shore.  As  it  was,  we  •  had  a  good  night  on  the  steamer  and 
early  the  next  morning  left  it  in  the  port  and  prepared  for  the  trip  inland, 

I  was  sorry  to  leave  the  crowd  on  the  boat,  and  they  all  seemed  to  be  sorry 

to  have  me  start  off  for  the  interior,  without  them.  However,  it  had  to  be 
done  and  Mr,  Williams,  Mr,  Barber  and  I  took  our  belongings,  such  as  we  ex¬ 
pected  to  need  on  the  trip,  and  got  ashore  about  six  o’clock.  We  were  told 
that  the  little  train  for  the  interior  would  be  going  out  at  about  one,  and 
it  came  puffing  in  about  ten,  We  got  everything  ready  and  the.i  bought  some 
tackle  and  went  fishing  on  the  banks  of  the  Magdalena,  We  caought  nothing, 
altncugh  others  on  the  bank  were  pulling  whoppers  out,  all  the  time,  with 
what  seemed  to  be  the  same  apparatus.  However,  it  soon  got  too  hot  and  we 
went  into  a  poor  little  so-called  hotel  where  we  sat  in  the  shade  and  finally 

had  a  good  breakfast*  the  old  lady  having  killed  a  chicken  in  our  honor,  and 
influenced  by  the  prospect  of  good  pay,  and  then  tried  to  take  a  nap,  This 
was  not  successful,  but,  about  three  o’clock,  the  little  train  pulled  out 
dor  "Kilometre  2?"  with  us  on  board. 

The  ride  for  these  17  miles  is  very  fine,  right  through  the  dense  tropical 
jungle,  and  terminates  among  a  few  huts  where  the  workmen  stay  and  where  there 
are  more  donkeys  than  human  bipeds.  We  climbed  a  hill  to  the  posada  where  we 
were  to  spend  the  night  and  found  that,  fortunately,  we  left  some  of  the  mos¬ 
quitoes  behind,  although  not  all.  Here  we  met  two  other  travellers  who  had 
just  come  in  over  the  trail  we  were  to  take  the  following  morning.  One  of 
them  is  a  Yale  man,  of  the  class  of  ’’94,  and  has  a  son  in  Princeton,  The  other 
^as  been  in  Montevideo  and  knows,  especially,  the  Cement  people.  They  were  in 
Colombia  on  oil  business  and  both  were  fine  men,-Todd  and  MacGregor  by  name,  the 
first  a  Presbyterian  and  the  other  a  Baptist, 


* 


>  . 


Early  the  next  day  we  were  ready  to  start  off, into  the  jungle.  The  mule 
tnat  was  pointed  out  to  me  as  the  one  I  was  to  ride,  did  not  lock  to  be  much 
larger  than  a  jack- rabbit ,  and  I  had  visiohsn  of  going  into  Bucaramanga  carry¬ 
ing  her.  However,  we  looked  each  other  in  the  eye,  saluted  each  other  in  the 
rkime  of  old  Missouri,  from  which  we  both  had  sprung,  and  I  found  that  she  was 
equal  to  the  task  of  carrying  me  up  hl#L3.  and  down,  over  swaying  bridges  and 
across  planks  that  cross  chasms. in  which  countain  streams  go  brawling  along 
many  feet  below,  and  she  finally  pilanted  me  in  this  city  in  all  safety,  evident¬ 
ly  more  ready  to  begin  the  return  trip  than  I  would  have  been.  The  trail  leads 
through  the  forests  in  which  monkeys  hang  to  the  overhanging  boughs  of  the 
trees  and  shriek  out  their  opinion  of  the  passing  traveller*- judging  from  their 
tone  this  opinion  was  rot  favorable; -serpents,  great  and  small,  writhe  their 
way  through  the  morass  and  jungle;  birds  of  all  kinds  flask  from  tree  to  tree, 
their  plumage  vying  with  the  mult-colored  foliage  of  the  undergrowth;  and  humans 
and  mules  come  and  go  in  an  endless  procession,  the  latter  carrying  burdens  of 
ail  kinds,  the  commerce  of  the  great  Department  of  Santander  that  in  this 
manner  only  finds  its  way  ro  or  from  the  sea. 


At  night  we  reached  Puerto  Santos,  on  the  Lebrija  river,  said  to  be  one  of 
the  most  unhealthful  places  on  Earth  and  evidently  well  worthy  of  the  sinister 
reputation.  We  had  dinner  in  a  dirty,  dark  back  room  of  a  dirtier  little  store, 
and  then  went  Ovex  +5.0  the  room  where  we  were  to  sleep.  This  was  merely  a 
large  vacant  room  in  a  store- house,  so  that,  we  had  to  arrange  our  cots,  put  up 
mosquito  netting,  etc.,  and  then  we  turned  in  as  soon  as  possible.  !•  “Mosquitoes 
hummed  in  chorus  about  my  cot,  but  few  of  them  succeeded  in  penetrating  the 
screen  and  getting  at  me;  men  just  outside  coughed  8.11  night,  showing  that  they 
had  malaria;  aogs  howled  in  chorus,  one  cursing  another  who  was  across  the 
gulch  and  some  distance  away;  shots  were  fired  down  among  the  men  who  were  .. 
sleeping  in  a  shed  among  the  mules;  and,  all  together,  we  had  a  bully  night  of 
it  and  were  in  good  fettle  to  set  out  at  daylight  on  the  following  morning 
for  the  next  stop. 


The  road  on  the  second  day  was  much  worse  than  on  the  first,  but  led  throug 
much  the  same  kind  of  forest  and  scenery.  The  monkeys  still  expressed  their 
opinion  of  us  from  the  neighboring  trees,  but  were  careful  to  keep  out  of  sight, 
and  we  saw  the  usual  number  of  parrots  and  other  birds  peculiar  to  the  tropics. 
Rather  early  in  the  afternoon  we  reached  a  very  confortabie  farm-house,  whose 
owners  we re  educated  in  the  States, -one  in  Cornell,-  and  who  had  introduced 
some  comparatively  modern  i  aeas  of  sanitation,  etc.,-  and  decided  to  spend  the 
night.  We  had  a  good  clean  room  and  the  food  was  not  at  all  bad,  so  that  we 
had  a  good  night 1 s  rest.  This  farm  is  one  of  a  number  which  this  same  family 
owns  in  tnis  Department,  and  is  small,-  consisting,  of  only  750.000  acres, 


The  third  day  we  were  off  before  it  was  entirely  light  and  at  orce  began 
to  climb  up  into  the  hills.  We  climbed  for  a  long  time,  then  went  down  again, 
and  kept  this  up  practically  all  day.  It  was  hard  on  iqy  mule,  but  I  did  not 
mind  it,  "Better  posadas  appeared  along  the  way  and  we  frequently  bought  kola, 
lemonade,  etc.,  ail  of  it  made  and  bottled  in  the  country  but  pretty  good. 

About  one  o'clock  we  galiopgd  into  Bucaramanga  and  up  to  the  "Chari**  E, 
Williams  Missionary  Home”1,  occupied  by  our  missionary  in  charge  cf  the  station, 
the  Rev.  Charles  3,  Williams,  and  family.  They  are  no  relation  to  the  main  who 
gave  the  money  for  the  home,  although  of  the  same  name.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  homes  that  I  have  seen  in  South  America,  and  is  most  tastefully  fur¬ 
nished  and  arranged, 

Mrs,  Williams  met  us  at  the  door,  with  Margaret,  their  only  little  girl, 
while  Kewell,  the  boy,  had  met  us,  with  a  number  of  other  boys  from  the  church, 
some  miles  out  and  accompanied  us  into  the  town.  It  was  mighty  fine  to  get 


. 

V.  . 

. 


•  >  •  '  •  ••  '  ’■  ...  if  A,  • 

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•  . 


*  •'  '  .  .... 


aovm  off  tne  upper  deck  of  the  mule  and  be  welcomed  into  this  nice  little  home# 
and  I  still  feel  as  though  I  would  like  to  stop  my  wanderings  right  here  and 
cast  anchor.  If  my  family  we  re  herel  might  do  so. 

Bucaramanga  is  a  city  of  about  25,000  .inhabitants,  with  as  many  more  in 
the  suburbs,  and  is  the  most  important  city  in  this  Eastern  region  of  the 
republic.  From  here  the  trail  leads  on  into  Venezuela,  and  we  had  thought, 
for  a  time,  of  following  it,  and  also  on  and  up  over  the  high  range  of  mount¬ 
ains  to  Bogota.  Of  this  last  part,  later. 

We  have  two  missionary  residences  here,  the  one  occupied  by  the  Williams 
and  the  other  by  a  young  couple  w  ho  have  just  gone  home.  The  Williams  also 
go  on  furlough  about  tne  first  of  August,  so  that  the  work  here  will  be  left 
alone  for  some  time#  unless  arrangements  can  be  made  to  send  a  substitute. 

Both  houses  u-re  very  comfortable  and  are  well  situated,  out  in  the  edge  of 
the  tovmi  The  Williams’  home  is  surrounded  by  roses  and  other  flowering  plants 
and  shrubs,  and  there  are  papaya  and  other  fruit  trees  in  the  garden  at  the 
rear.  There  is  a  chapel  built  on  at  the  rear,  also,  and  they  have  had  meetings 
here  the  past  two  nights,  with  some  350  people  present.  There  is  no  oiganized 
church,  as  yet,  but  one  can  be  organized  at  any  time,  when  the  workers  return 
from  their  furloughs. 

Yesterday  we  took  an  automobile  and  drove  all  over  the  town.  It  is  just 
one  of  these  overgrown  rambling  country  towns,  att racti  vz  looking  in  many  ways, 
but  away  behind  in  everything.  X  have  no  idea  what  is  going  on  in  the  world, 
since  I  have  seen  no  newspaper  worth  name  since  we  left  Panama;  but  there  are 
rumors  here  that  France  has  invaded  Germany  and  that  Russia  is  mobilizing  its 
army  to  help  Germany  repel  the  invasion,  etc.  If  all  this  is  true,  no  doubt 
you  are  having  some  real  news  where  you  are  and  I  may  get  out  to  civilization 
again  to  find  the  whole  world  at  war. 

Now,  as  to  the  trail  to  Bogota.  I  expected,  as  I  think  I  wrote  you,  to 
return  to  Puerto  Wiiches  and  go  on  up  the  river  to  Medellin,  and  from  there 
to  Bogota.  But  I  found  a  telegram  here  from  Mr,  Wheeler,  stating  that  he  had 
decided  to  go  direct  to  Bogota  and  asking  me  to  meet  him  at  Beien,  You  may 
be  able  to  find  this  place  on  the  map.  It  is  out  to  the  south  of  Bucaramanga# 
four  days’  ride  on  mile- back,  at  the  point  where  the  trail  to  Bogota  ends  and 
travellers  continue  in  an  auto.  He  asked  me  to  meet  him  at  Beien  on  January 
30th,  which  means  that  I  will  have  to  leave  here  on  Saturday  morning,  the  27th, 
and  ride  tie  four  days  up  over  the  mountains  in  order  to  get  there  on  the  day 
set.  However,  that  is  the  time  it  would  take  me  to  get  back  down  the  river  to 
Puerto  Wiiches,  so  that  it  is  all  the  same  to  me,  and  I  will  be  going  through 
new  country  and  a  country  that  is  not  so  unhealthy  as  is  that  along  the  trail 
we  rode  on  coming  up* 

We  expect  to  leave  the  home,  here,  bn  Saturday  morning,  at  daybreak,  and, 

with,  all  the  family,  ride  to  the  end  of  the  automobile  road,  about  twelve 

miles  out  of  the  city.  From  there  the  family  will  return  and  Mr.  Williams  and 
I  will  go  on  our  way,  alone,  Mr.  Barber,  who  came  up  with  me,  will  return 
from  there  fro  Puerto  Wiiches  and  so  to  Medellin,  where  we  hope  to  meet  some 
time  later,  if  all  goes  well. 

Since  we  get  into  cold  country  on  this  trip,  I  have  had  to  buy  me  some 
heavy  underclothing,  for  I  left  all  that  sort  of  thing  in  my  trunk  in 
Barranquilla  or  in  a  valise  I  sent  on  to  Bogota  with  Mr.  Wheeler. 

Beien  is  more  than  half  way  down  from  Bogota,  but  it  is  travelled  in  one 

day  in  auto.  I  will  go  back  with  Mr*  Wheeler  and  Mr,  Allan,  so  that  the  real 

journey  will  be  finished  when  we  get  to  Beien,  on  the  30th. 


. 


..  5 

’ 

•  ’ 

■  -  ■ 

. 


. 


Si 


■ 

. 


-8- 


I  gave  orders  in  Barranquilla  to  send  mail  to  Medellin,  but  I  am  hoping 
that  Mr,  Wheeler  has  advised  the  people  of  the  change  and  that  letters  will 
be  waiting  for  me  in  Bogota.*  when  I  arrive.  If  not.,  entonces  haova  cue  esperar 
hast  a  Medellin,  Tal  e_e  .la  vld.-:t  en  la  i  epana  Colombia! 


I  think  you  know  who  the  Williams  are.  He  was  a  class-mate  of  Mr,  McLean, 
of  Chile,  in  McCormick,  and  she  is  a  writer  on  missionary  topics,  especially 
the  book  'Unto  the  Least  in  Col  arbi a’",  She  has  just  given  us  gn  autographed 
copy  of;  the  hook  which  I  will  take  along  with  me  They  have  dene  a  good  work 
here,  but  are  leaving  on  their  furlough  about  August  first,  He  seems  to  know 
everyone  in  town  and  everyone  seems  to  respect  hum  very  much.  It  is  a  liberal 
community,  but  there  is  stixl  a  very  fanatical  group,  especially  of  the  priests, 
and  the  evangelical  work  is  steadily  attacked  from  the  pulpits  of  the  city. 

This  does  not,  do  it  any  &arm.  but,  as  is  generally  the  case,  seems  to  help  along. 


L  have  taken  a  number  of  good  pictures  along  the  way,  but  can  not  have 
them  developed  until  I  reach  Bogota,  There  are  many  things  of  interest,  of 
course,  but  there  is  not  time  to  stop  and  snap  them  all  <■  However,  I  expect  to 
take  out  a  much  better  selection  chan  I  did  before,  and  I  look  forward  to  show¬ 
ing  them  all  to  my  family,  when  I  get  it?  membra  direct  a  gathered  together 
once  more.  The  mountain  views  are  wonderful,  but  it  is  useless  to  take  them 
for  they  do  net  come  out  at  all  well,*,  since  there  is  no  background  and,  be¬ 
sides,  everything  is  so  reduced  that  it  loses  its  value  as  a  picture,  I  wish 
that  1  could  get,  coo,  the  wonderrul  colors  ox  the  tropical  forest,  but  this 
is  impossible  and.  the  picture,  in  consequence,  loses  much,  Mrs,  Williams  has 
a  number  of  good  scenes  along  .the  way  and  here  in  town  and  I  am  getting  copies 
of  some  of  her  films. 


Naturally,  I  wonder  what  you  are  all  doing  these  days,  We  sure  are  a 
scattered  family  at  present,  but  there  is  always  the  hope  of  getting  together 
again,  some  time  in  the  dim  end  misty  future.  I  shall  send  a  separate  letter, 
or  note  from  here,  just  to  let  you  know  that  I  am  alive  and  well,  but  will  keep 
on  pegging  away  at  this  Colombia  .letter  until  it  is  finished  and  then  send  it 
all  in  at  the  same  time.  You  will  enjoy  reading  it  all  at  once,  I  think, 
rather  than  in  sections. 

For  the  present,  I  shall  have  to  stop  and  go  do  something  else,  and  my  next 
addition  toithis  letter  will  probably  be  written  in  Bogota,  At  that  time  I  will 
tell  you  of  the  long  trail  that  winds  up  before  me,  and  I  hope  that  I  may  be 
able  to  tell  you  that  it  was  a  good  ride  and  that  everything  went  off  as  we.- 
now  hope  that  it  may  go. 


Bogota,  February  2,  1923. 

As  you  will  note,  I  have  climbed  the  mountains  since  last  I  wrote  on  this 
letter,  and  am  now  in  the  classic  city  of  Bogota,  which  the  Colombians  wistfully 
call  the  ’’Athens  of  South  America’’1.  I  am  trying  out  a  new  Underwood  which  Mr. 
Lee  has  bought  for  his  own  use,  and  find  the  keyboard  somewhat  different  from 
my  own,  so  that  I  shall  make  a  lot  of  mistakes.  However,  that  will  not  matter, 
since  I  am  aafely  here,  and  I  shall  now  try  to  begin  where  I  left  off  and  bring 
my  letter  up  to  date. 

My  last  was  written  from  Bucaram^nga,  just  as  I  was  on  the  point  of  start¬ 
ing  on  the  ride  to  Belen,  so  that  I  shall  go  back  to  that  time  and  relate  vfoat 
I  have  been  doing  since. 


: 


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We  had  to  get  the  trip  organized,  hunt  up  males,  a  muleteer,  etc,,  and  do 
seme  "buying  of  provisions,  all  of  which  took  a  day  or  so.  But,  on  the  morning 
of  January  27th,  we  were  ready.  We  were  up  early  and  about  eight  o1  clock  took 
an  auto  to  Cuestas,  Pie  de  Cuestas  is  the  full  name, -where  we  expected  our 
mules  to  be  waiting  for  us.  This  ride  is  about  15  miles,  and,  of  course,  was 
not  hard  nor  unpleasant,  Mrs,  Williams  and  Newell,  the  son  of  about  14  years, 
and  Margaret,  abcut  10,  went  with  us,  and  the  hoy  continued  all  the  way  to 
Bogota,  We  passed  the  mules  on  the  way,  so  had  to  wait  a  while,  but,  by  ten 
o*clock,  we  were  in  the  saddle  and  started  off  on  the  ride.  The  rest  of  the 
day  we  travelled  along  a  fairly  well-kept  road  and  it  was  not  difficult  going. 

I  had  the  same  mule  that  had  brought  me  up  from  Wilches  and  was  glad  of  it, 
although  the  mule  did  not  seem  to  share  my  satisfaction, 

Just  at  right  we  reached  Los  Santos;  just  on  the  edge  of  a  deep  chasm  which 
we  were  to  cross  the  following  day.  Here  we  spent  the  night  in  a  little  hotel, 
and  slept  pretty  well,  all  things  considered.  In  the  hotel,  just  to  show  how 
Americans  have  penetrated  to  the  remote  corners  of  the  Earth,  in  years  gone  by,  I 
noticed  am  old  man  sitting  by  the  door  who  looked  like  an  Englishtoan  or  an 
American,  He  proved  to  be  an  American,  in  Colombia  and  in  this  out-of-the-way-  . 
place  sirte  1864,  a  member  of  the  McCormick  family  of  Chicago,  He  has  almost 
forgotten  his  mother  tongue,  but  seemed  to  be  proud,  still,  of  being  an  American. 
He  is  a  cousin,  I  take  it,  of  Cyrus  McCormick,  and  said  he  had  heart  that  Cyrus 
had  invented  some  kind  of  a  reaper  and  had  made  seme  money! 

The  following  morning  we  were  up  early  and  started  on  what  is  the  hardest 
day  of  work  that  I  have  ever  done,  I  think;  although  all  I  had  to  do  was  to  sit 
on  the  hurricane  deck  of  the  mule  and  allow  her  to  carry  me  along.  The  gorge* 
or  chasm,  already  referred  to,  is  something  like  cur  Royal  Gorge,  in  Arizona* 
about  a  mile  deep,  but  one  has  to  ride  three  miles  down  the  almost  perpendicular 
sides  to  get  to  the  bottom,  I.t  was  still  dark  when  we  started  out,  and  we  wound 
down  and  down  the  trail  for  about  two  hours,  before  reacning  "'El  Jordan"',  the 
little  village  at  the  bottom,  situated  right  on  the  Sogamoso  river  which  goes 
roaring  along  in  its  bed  on  its  way  to  the  Magdalena  and  thence  to  the  Caribbean 
Sea. 


When  w©  reached  the  bottom,  I  rode  on,  while  Mr,  Williams  was  paying  the 
toll-bridge,  and  took  the  wrong  turn  in  the  road,  with  the  result  that  L  bon^ ; 
tinued  for  a  half  hour  up  the  river  befq/re  finding  out  my  mistake.  The  others, 
meanwhile*  had  begun  the  climb*  believing  me  far  ahead.  It  was  a  wild  part 
of  the  country*  alorg  the  river*  and  I  was  recalled  to  my  senses  by  hearing  a 
shot  ring  out  near  at  hand,  the  bullet  clipped  the  leaves  above  me*  and  to  see 

some  people  near  by  scatter  for  shelter.  I  do  not  suppose  that  the  sho\t  was 

aimed  at  me*  but  the  people  looked  at  me  as  though  I  was  responsible*  and  I 
lost  no  time  in  turning  my  mule  abcut  and  returning  to  the  little  town.  The 
others  had  got  a  long  start  of.  me,  but  I  caught  up  with  them  just  as  they  were 
nearing  the  top, -much  to  their  surprise  since  they  thought  me  ahead  of  them. 

We  rode  on  until  .about  half  after  seven  o’clock,  when  we  reached  the  town  of 
Mogotes  and  found  a  very  comfortable  hotel  in  which  we  spent  the  night.  The 
crossing  of  the  gorge  was  the  hardest  part  of  the  ride  of  the  day,  but  it  was 
worth  the  trouble  and  work,  for  it  was  a  great  sight,  I  doubt  if  the  Royal 

Gorge  is  any  more  beautiful  and  sublime.  But  this  gorge  will  be  rarely  visited, 

for  it  is  far  off  the  beaten  track  of  travellers  and  few  they  be  who  have  to 
cross  it,  I  am,  however,  glad  to  be  one  of  the  few, -now  that  it  is  oyer. 

I  noted  that  all  along  the  trail  we  met  hundreds  of  men  and  many  women, 
all  of  them  trudging  along  with  their  mules  or  alone*  This  is  the  great  high¬ 
way  to  Venezuela,  from  Bogota*  so  that  may  travellers  follow  it.  The  hundreds 
of  mules  are  loaded  down  with  coffee,  wool,  salt,  and  other  products  of  the 


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region  or  from  on  beyond,  and  one  might  suppose  it  a  dangerous  trail  to  follow. 
Some  so  consider  it,  I  found. the  people  cheerful  and  so  far  as  I  could  see 
utterly  harmless,  There  are  stories,  ?f  course,  of  robberies  ana  butcheries  by 
the  way,  but  by  professional  highwaymen  who  do  not  appear  except  as  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  seems  to  suit  them,  Further  East,  on  the  high  plateaus  that  border  on 
'.'enesuela,  there  are  many  such  attachs  and  I  would  not  care  to  travel  in  that 
region, 

\yhile  standing  in  the  balcony  of  the  hotel,  in  Mogotes,  the  morning  we  were 
leaving,  I  noted,  for  the  firs;  time,  what  I  have  since  seen  several  times, -the 
attention  given  by  the  people  on  the  street  to  the  mass  in  process  in  the  church* 
At  the  sound  of  a  bell,  which  no  doubt  advises  that  the  Host  is  being  exposed 
for  the  adoration  ox  the  faithful,  every  man  in  the  plaza  doffed  his  hat  and 
stood  "ht  attention11  until  another  signal  was  given  by  the  bell  and  all  moved  on, 

I  afterward  saw  it  in  other  places  along  the  way,  and,  today,  even  here  in 
"Bogota,  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  great  power  over  the  masses,  yet  it  is 
the  grip  of  a  dead  hand.  All  thinking  men  are  falling  away  from  it  and  a  priest 
can  not  travel  in  comfort  on  these  roads  because  of  the  abuse  and  vituperation 
that  are  hurled  at  him* 

We  left  Mogotes  a  little  late,  on  the  morning  of  January  29th,  since  one 
of  the  mules  had  cast  a  shoe  and  we  had  to  hunt  up  a  smith  who  would  shoe  her, 
However,  we  made  out  destination  that  night ,-Onzaga,  distant  about  ten  leagues 
from  Mogotea,  It  was  interesting  to  notice  the  vague  idea  the  people  along  the 
trail  have  of  distances,  When  nearing  a  town  we  would  ask  different  people  and, 
possibly  within  five  minutes,  receive  from  a  half-dozen  individuals  as  many  re¬ 
plies,  ranging  from  "a  quarter  of  a  league"  to  "five  leagues".  We  simply  had 
to  k eep  going  until  we  reached  the  place,  and  be  satisfied  with  that,  Fortunate¬ 
ly,  Mr,  Williams  had  been  over  the  road  once,  several  years  ago,  so  that  he  re- 
memb e r ed  s  o ms t hi ng  of  it, 

I  ought  to  say,  too,  that  he  did  all  the  work  of  the  party.  All  I  had  to 
do  was  to  get  on  and  off  my  mule  at  the  proper  time*  He  attended  to  the  meals, 
to  making  and  unmaking  our  beds,  to  packing  everything  up  and  getting  it  on  or 
off  the  pack-mules,  etc.  We  always  ordered  meals  at  the  little  hotels  or 
"posadas"1,  but  supplemented  with  other  canned  food  that  we  brought  along.  We 
had  oxford  sausages;  tinned  fruit ,  of  several  ki rds;  bottled  water;  biscuits  of 
several  kinds;  butter;  cheese,  £t c «  etc,  We  lived  well,  although  we  were  some¬ 
times  too  tired  to  eat. 

We  spent  the  night  at  Onzaga,  and  were  up  and  in  the  saddle  by  five  o'clock 
the  following  morning,  ready  for  the  last  and  the  hardest  day  of  the  trip,  whicn 
was  to  bring  us  to  Helen  by  night*  We  rode  thirteen  hours  that  day  and  reached 
our  destination  about  six  thirty,  pretty  well  sired  out  but  happy  to  have  come 
through  safely.  We  could  have  done  the  ride  in  much  less  time,  but  the  muleteer, 
who  drove  our  two  pack-mules,  insisted  that  we  stay  with  him,  since  he  was  afraid 
of  what  he  called  the  "pillos"'  of  the  region,  Still,  I  did  not  notice  any  one 
that  seemed  dangerous,  but  he  knows  the  region  and  was  a  better  judge  than  we, 

I  carried  my  revolver  in  plain  sight  about  my  waist,  with  a  full  supply  of  cart¬ 
ridges  also  in  sight,  and  this  may  have  helped  in  the  seeming  courtesy  with  which 
I  was  treated,  I  often  rode  through  a  hundred  or  more  males  with  their  drivers, 
all  milling  around  in  some  corner  of  the  trail  or  about  a  road- side  drinking 
place,  hat  no  oho  offered  to  molest  me.  True.,  I  often  noticed  the  look  of 
respect  which  they  bestowed  on  my  "'artillery'1,  but  do  not  know  that  this  pro¬ 
tected  me,  Mr.  Williams,  at  least,  thought  it  well  to  show  it! 

The  trail  on  this  last  day  led  up  over  what  they  call  a  "paramo"1,  or  high 
plateau,  where  there  are  few  inhabitants,  and  where  storms  sweep  over  the  region 


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with  unrestrained  force.  It  is  always  cold,  of  course,  but  we  were  fortunate 
in  having  sunshine  almost  all  the  day.  It  rained  behind  us  and  in  front  of  us 
and  on  one  side,  but  the  rain  di.d  not  "come  nigh"' us,  for  which  we  were  thank¬ 
ful,  We  probably  reached  an  altitude  of  nearly  12,000  feet,  although  there  is 
no  way  of  telling,  exactly,  since  there  are  no  maps  of  the  locality  with  the 
altitudes  marked, 

We  rode  up  to  she  "Tandama  Hotel"’  in  Bolen,  about  half  past  six,  and  were 
getting  cur  mules  attended  to  when  somone  said,  ’'An  automobile  has  just  arrived!"' 
We  went  to  the  front  door  and  saw  Messrs,  Wheeler  and  Allan  crawling  cut  of 
their  machine*  We  had  beaten  them  to  the  rendevous  by  about  fifteen  mirrutes,- 
which  was  close  connection,  considering  the  distance  they  and  we  had  travelled* 
They  had  come  about  the  same  distance  as  we,  although  they  had  covered  it  in 
one  day  and  we  had  taken  fodr* 

That  night  we  all  spent  together  in  the  little  hotel,  but  I  did  not  sleep 
much,  I  woke  in  the  night  With  a. high  fever,  but  by  getting  rid  of  most  of  the 
bed  clothing  I  managed  to  cool  off.  The  following  day,  too,.  I  had  fever,  but 
it  was  simply  from  fatigue,  rather  than  any  infection.  It  was  a  "hard  tri^u 
we  had  taken,  and  Mr,  Allan  was  doubtful  about  cur  making  it  in  the  four  days, 

Mr,  Wheeler,  loyal  to  me,  was  betting  on  our  doing  so  and  he  was  not  disappoint¬ 
ed.  But,  although  mighty  glad  to  have  been  over  the  route  once,  I  do  hot  care 
to  consider  travelling  it  again, -at  least  until  anatomy  feels  a  little  more 
rested.  I  think  that  I  rather  surprised  some  of  these  younger  men  by  taking 
the  trip  and  doing  it  in  record  time*  I  notice  that  no  one  of  them  is  anxious 
to  undertake  it! 

We  left  Belen  on  Wednesday  morning,  January  31,  in  the  same  automobile 
that  the  others  had  come  in,  the  day  before,  and  took  two  days  to  reach  Bogota* 

We  stopped  along  the  way  at  a  number  of  places,  just  to  see  them  and  to  lock 
over  possibilities  of  opening  work,  and  spent  the  night  in  a  lititilb' town  called 
Duitama,  During  the  day  we  had  turned  off  the  main  road  to  visit  another  town 
called  Sogamoso,  which  is  liberal  and  is  calling  for  Protestant  workers.  All 
this  country  lies  in  a  valley,  or  valleys,  which  are  well  cultivated,  and  the 
road  is,  as  a  rule,  very  fine.  It  was  built  by  my  old  friend.  President  Pafael 
Reyes,  whom  I  met  on  the  trip  South  after  the  Panama  Congress,  who  is  said  to 
have  done  work  to  cover  his  private  looting.  But  it  is  the  best  road  in  Col¬ 
ombia  and  the  people,  who  drovehim  out,  should  give  him  credit  for  this  one 
piece  of  work,  at  least, 

1/Ve  had  lunch  about  midday  of  the  last  day  at  Tunja,  the  most  fanatical 
town  in  Colombia,  and  visited  some  of  the  old  churches.  In  this  town  of  about 
10,000  there  are  S  churches,  7  chapels,  1  seminary  with  200  students,  2  con¬ 
vents  for  men  and  three  for  women,  5  church  schools  for  boys  and  10  for  girls, 
Pretty  well  supplied,  no  _es  cierto? 

About  the  midule  of  the  afternoon  we  came  to  "Puente  de  Boyaca"',  where 
Bolivar  fought  the  great  battle  that  gave  him  all  Nueva  Grande  and  completely 
broke  the  power  of  the  royalists.  There  is  a  huge  stone  shaft  erected  near 
tne  old  bridge,  and  a  small  park  is  maintained  about  it,  I  am  glad  to  have 
seen  this  region,  I  have  followed  "El  Liberthdor1"  about  South  America  a  good 
deal,  I  have  been  in  the  room  in  which  he  was  born  in  Caracas;  in  the  room 
wnere  he  met  San  Martin,  in  Guayaquil;  in  the  room  where  no  died,  m  San.  Marta, 
Colombia;;  and  have  stood  by  his  mausoleum  in  the  Pantheon  of  Caracas,  The 
oat  tie  of  Boyaca  was  the  greatest  military  triumph  of  his  life  and  I  am  glad  to 
*iaVe  been  at  the  place  hnd. .feo.have  taken  .some  views  of  the  shafo  »eoc,  l  e  was 
a  great  man,  the  greatest  this  part  of  South  America  has  produced,  and  both 


-12- 


Col  OKibi  a  and  Venezuela  do  well  in  honoring  his  memory*  I  do  not  think  that 
he  was  as  great  as  San  Martin*  especially  in  moral  character,  but  I  do  not 
dare  to  say  much  along  that  line  while  in  this  region.  Of  him,  one  might 
say,  as  John  Quincy  Adams  said  of  Aaron  Burr:- "His  life,  take  it  altogether, 
was  such  as  in  any  country  of  sound  morals  his  friends  would  be  desirous  of 
burying  in  profound  oblivion"'. 

Yet,  on  the  ether  hand  another  writer  has  ppoken  of  him  as  "bold  and 
fortunate  as  Ale.-a.ader.,  a  patroit  like  Hannibal,  brave  and  clement  like  Caesar, 
a  great.  Captain  and  a  profound  statesman  like  Napoleon,  honorable  as  Washing¬ 
ton,  a  sublime  poet  and  a  versatile  orator,  such  was  Bolivar,  who  united  in 
his  own  mind  all  the  vast  multiplicity  of  the  elements  of  genius,  His  glory  will 
shine  in  the  heaven  of  history,  but  as  a  heavenly  body,  whose  radiance  is  ever 
increasing"! 

Still  another  writer  has  said:  **the  dominant  traits  in  the  character  of 
Bolivar  are  ambition,  vanity,  thirst  for  absolute  undivided  power  and  profound 
dissimulation.  Many  of  his  generals  have  done  more  than  he  has  to  free  the 
country  from  the  Spainards," 

As  one  nears  the  city  of  Bogota,  coming  in  on  the  automobile  road,  one 
nct.ix.e-s  the  signs  of  a  great  city,  There  are  many  well-kept  quintas  with 
beautiful  homes  along  the  road,  and  the  fields  are  well  tilled,  There  are 
electric  lights  also,  which  are  lacking  further  out,  and,  when  one  enters  1 
tne  city,  one  can  see  that  it  is  comparatively  well  paved,  especially  along 
the  central  streets,-  a  la  latina  ameri canal-  and  that  the  streets  are  well 
lighted  ahd  have  the  usual  stores  and  public  buildings, 

We  drove  straight  to  the  Colegio  Americano,  where  we  are  stopping,  and 
were  scon  sitting  at  the  dinner  that  has  been  delayed  for  us  far  beyond  the 
usual  hour.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lee  were  here  to  receive  us,  also  Mrs,  Allan,  and 
we  were  made  to  feel  very  much  at  home.  We  have  a  room  together,  with  two 
good  beds.  Mine  is  a  wide  one  and  I  sure  do  get  in  some  good  sleep  in  it, 
making  up  for  the  time  I  lost  in  the  narrow  short  cots  that  w.e  used  along  the 
trail  and  the  hard  beds  of  the  little  hotels, 

. Yesterday  morning,- it  is  now  Saturday,  February  3rd,-  we  went  over  to 
the  Girls1’  School  for  breakfast®  Misses  McMiliin  and  .Russel  had  sent  us  a 
nice  bouquet  of  flowers  and  an  invitation  to  come  over  to  breakfast  the 
following  morning, -both  of  which  we  accepted!  So  we  went  about  half  past 
eight  and  had  a  whopping  good  breakfast.  Then  we  went  out  to  towh  to  get 
some  things  and  to  leave  films  to  be  developed.  We  each  left  about  a  dozen 
rolls  and  we  think  wre  will  have  some  good  pictures,  well  worth  writing  home: 
about.  When  I  get  to  the  coast  again  I  will  try  to  send  them  on  to  you,  to¬ 
gether  with  some  others  that  I  left  in  Barranquilla. 

All  day  yesterday  we  were  wprkirg  here  in  our  rooms  on  our  Reports,  We 
are  each  writing  travel  letters,  which  will  be  copied  and  s~nt  out  to  people 
whom  we  hope  to  interest  in  Colombia.  I  have  put  your  name  on  the  list,  so' 
that  you  will  be  getting  copies,  some  time#  they  will  afterward  be  published 
in  a  book,  the  Report  of  our  trip  to  these  countries.  Between  times,  as  you 
will  note,  I  write  a  page  or  two  on  this  letter.  Now  that  it  is  about  up  to 
date,  I  can  leave  and  go  to  other  things.  By  the  airplane  that  leaves  here 
in  a  day  or  so  I  will  send  a  short  not’e,  so  that  you  may  not  be  so  long  with¬ 
out  word  from  me.  This  airplane  makes  weekly  t rij-s  to  and  from  Bogota,  Rather, 
it  cones  only  ,  to  Girardot,  at  the  end  of  the  river, -since  it  is  a  hydroplane 
and  can  not  get  far  from  the  water, -and  the  mails  are  brought  up  &nd  down  the 


-Efc- 


"by  train.  But  this  saves  at  least  a  week  between  here  and.  the  coast*  .This  is 
quite  a  lift.  We  are  balking  some  of  taking  a  part  of  the  trip  down  in  the 
plane,  but  I  do  not  think  that  I  will  dc  so.  It  is  too  costly  and  I  do  not 
like  to  do  any  stunts,  this  far  from  home,  Mr.  Wheeler  is  anxious  to  do  some¬ 
thing  of  the  kind,  but  I  guess  that  I  am  a  little  conservative.  Maybe  I  am 
getting  old!  Just  now  it  is  early  in  the  day  and  we  must  go  over  to  the  Girld* 
School  again  for  breakfast^  Co  that  l  will  stop  now  and  add  something  later, 

We  have  a  full  week  planned  for  Logon  a*  and  expect  to  leave  here  on  the  1/Bth 
for  Gi rardot  £n&  l.isde.J  tin,  A  month  from  new  we  Aiould  be  through  with  Col¬ 
ombia:  and  almost  ready  to  embark  for  Venezuela,  A  month  or  so  in  that  country, 
ana  then  we  start  for  Mew  York! 


February  10th,  1923. 

Considerable  water  has  flowed  under  the  bridge  sinoe  I  wrote  the  above  lines 
and  I  will  now  try  to  get  this  letter  up  to  date  ,and  this  will  be  the  last  I 
will  write  from  Bogota,  This  is  Saturday  and  early  Monday  morning  we  start  down 

the  river  to  Girardot,  There  we  spend -a  night  and  then  go  on  down  to  Puerto 
uerrio  and  thence  by  rail  to  Medellin.  To  go  back  a  little. 


I  think  I  mentioned  in  this  or  another  letter  that  I  had  been  in  bed  a' day 
with  a  cold.  This  was  not  serious,  and  I  was  up  and  ready  for  business  when  I 
foolishly ate some  of  the  native  past elites  and  got  a  touch  of  ptomaine  poisoning. 

The  mold  served  us  some  tea  in  cur  room,  just  as  we  were  starting  out  for  the 
afternoon,  and,  although  it  occurred  to  me  that  it  was  foolish  to  do  so,  I  ate 
two  or  three  of  the  above-mentioned  pastries.  About  the  middle  of  that  'anight 
I  woke  up  with  tremendous  pains,  but  they  diminished  and  I  got  up  nect  morning 
as  usual,  although  not  feeling  well.  We  went,  over  to  cal]  on  the  A ire  ri  can  Minister 
and  while  there  I  felt  pretty  bad.  My  month  was  hot  and  my  whole  interior 
mechanism  seemed  to  be  burning  like  a  furnace,  Co  1  cams  home  and  went  to  bed, 

I  as!  ?d  the  maid  to  bring  me  some  lemonade,  which  she  did.  I  gulped  it  all  down 
at  once  end,  rather  surprised,  she  said,  "Shall  I  bring  another  glass  to  set  on 
the  table,"  I  answered,  "Yea,  verily"'.,  and  she  brought  it  in.  This,  too,  I 
took  and  drank  down  at  on?  o«  Still  more  surprised  she  asked  if  she  should  bring  . 


in  a  pitcher,  and  I  sard,  "Go  to  ifc%  and  she  brought  it  in..  This  lasted  some 
time  and  helped  me  to  put  out  the  fires,  I.  think  steam  must  have  poured  coat  of 
my  ears  and  nose  when  I  drank  the  first  glass  of  lemonade,  but,  of  course,  I  could 
not  see  if,  so  do  not  vouch  fc  1  the  fact!  They  called  in  Dr.  Smith,  an  American 
doctor  who  has  a  big  praccice  here,  and  he  pronounced  it  a  couch  of  ptomaine 
poisoning,  However,  I  remained  in  bed  two  days  and  was  a  little  wobbly  on  my 
under- pinning  for  a  day  or  so  more,  but  am  now  all  right.  But,  never  again  do 
I  eat  pastries  made  in  the  native  bake- shops! 


Because  of  this  retirement  from  circulation  for  these  days,  I  have  not  done 
all  I  expected  to  do  in  Bogota,  but  it  could  not  be  helped,  so  far  as  I  can  sec. 

I  have  been  through  the  schools,  however,  and,  having  been  here  before,  I  did  riot- 
need  so  much  time  as  did  Mr.  Wheeler  who  is  here  for  the  first  time.  I  had  ex¬ 
pected  to  give  a  lecture  in  the  University,  but  this  has  had  to  be  omitted,  since 
we  couiu  not  arrange  a  time  while  iry  ptomaine  was  still  working. 

Yesterday,  we  had  a  great  day  in  the  country.  Early  in  the  morning  Mr. 
Wheeler,  Miss  McMillin  and  Mr,  and  Mrs,  Allan  aid  I  took  an  automobile  and  start¬ 
ed  on  a  fifty  mile  drive  to  Sesquile*  the  little  town  at  the  foot  of  the  hills 
among  which  is  Lake  Guatavita,  the  little  body  of  water  in  which  'll  Dorado"' 
used  to  bathe  to  free  himself  of  the  scales  of  shining  gold.  This  lake  lies  at 
the  top  of  a  high  mountain,  just  a  little  round  tarn,  deep  and  desolate.  It 


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seems  to  occupy  the  crater  of  an  eatinct  volcano,  and  the  water  is  now  much 
less  than  formerly,  due  to  the  fact  that  it  has  been  drained  in  a  search  for 
the  fabulous  treasures  which  it  is  supposed  to  contain.  The  lake  is  fed  by  sprig 
from  which  fresh  water  is  ever  bubbling  up  ,  but  the  deepest  part,  now,  is  not 
over  75  feet.  In  the  days  when  it  was  the  center  of  the  c  eremonies  of  the 
Indians,  it  mist  have  reached  to  the  top  of  the  rim  and  had  a  depth  of  some 
8C0  feet.  The  legend,  if  it  is  a  legend,  is  that  during  the  days  when  the. great 
cacique  of  the  region  was  independent,  he  used  to  go,  once  every  year,  accompan¬ 
ied  by  a  procession,  to  make  a .  ceremonial  offering  in  the  Lake,  to  placate  the 
spirits  of  the  region,  and  then  to  bathe  in  the  waters  of  the  lake.  He  was 
well  amoinbed  with  oil,  then  rolled  in  finest  scales  of  gold  which  would  thus 
stick  to  his  body  and  convert  him  into  a  golden  statue  as  he  stood  on  the  raft. 
Th^m, surrounded  by  his  nobles,  he  would  be  rowed  out  to  the  center  of  the  body 
of  water  and,  plunging  in  like  a  great  golden  fish,  would  soon  emerge  with  his 
body  cleansed  of  the  gold  and  return  to  tha  shore.  The  people  would  throw 
gold  and  emeralds  and  other  precious  stones  into  the  lake,  as  a  sign  of  rejoicing 
and  all  return  to  their  homes  assured  of  another  year  of  freedom  from  evil 
spirits. 

To  get  to  this  spot,  as  I  have  said,  we  took  an  automobile, -the  same  that 
we  used  to  come  from  Belen  a  week  agoy.  with  the  same  driver, -and  drove  about 
fifty  miles,  out  along  the  same  great  highway,  to  the  little  town  of  Sesquile. 

We  had  telegraphed  ahead  for  horses  to  be  used  in  going  up  the  trail,  and  they 
had  been  ordered  and  were  soon  ready.  We  took  breakfast,  or  lunch,  in  the 
little  ’’Hotel  Central"1,  and  thus  fortified  the  inner  man, -and  woman,- for  the 
ride.  Meanwhile,  the  horses  had  been  sent  on  about  another  league,  to  the  town 
of  San  Jose,  where  the  trail  breaks  off  from  the  main  road  and  we  had  to  ride. 

I  had  a  fine  big  mare,  a  pacer  or  racker,  which  they  secured  from  a  countryman 
who  happened  to  be  passing,  but  I  was  not  so  sure  of  her  as  I  was  of  my  little 
mule  up  on  the  highlands.  The  others  had.  more  or  less  non- descript  animals 
that  needed  considerable  urging  to  keep  up  with  my  mount.  We  rode  for  about  an 
hour,  with  a  guide,  right  up  into  the  hills  and  to  what  must  have  been  the  top 
of  tne  mountain,  and  finally  came  out  at  the  edge  of  the  water.  It  is  not  much, 
as  a  lake,  today,  but  is  charmingly  situated  and  we  could  give  free  rein  to  the 
imagination  as  we  thought  of  the  past.  The  borders  are  all  overgrown  with  a 
dense  jungle  of  brush  and  brier,  so  that  it  is  amost  impossible  to  get  around 
it.  I  went  part  way,  climbed  up  o.i  the  side  so  as  to  get  some  photographs  , 
and  then  came  back  to  the  horses  ana  Miss  McMillin  who  had  not  ventured  far 
a  way.  Mr.  Wheeler  and  the  Allans  kept  going  and  finally  made  the  circuit  of 
the  lake,  and  the  men  also  climbed  up  the  other  side  on  a  jutting  precipice, 
descended  to  the  water  and  bathed,  in  imitation  of  the  cacique  of  old,  and 
finally  reached  the  camp.  We  then  had  a  few  sandwiches  and  started  on  the  home 
trip.  We  galloped  down  to  the  roai  in  about  fifty  minutes,  and  drove  home  in  a 
little  over  two  hours,  reaching  here  about  nine  o ’’clock,  an  hour  too  late  for 
me  to  speak  in  the  church  as  I  had  been  advertised  to  do.  But  it  was  a  great 

day  and  I  am  glad  to  have  seen  the  Lake  of  Guat-avita,  although  the  cacique  was 

not  visible. 

This  morning  we  are  all  going  out  to  see  some  properties,  and,  to  that 

end,  have  ordered  up  a  Lodge  car.  The  schools  here  are  not  in  good  buildings, 

^1 :  ..ough  the  locations  are  not  bad,  and  we  want  to  see  what  can  be  done  to  betiUx 
th~  situation.  Neither  of  the  schools  has  ever  been  able  to  do  much,  principally 
uue  to  bad  direction,  but  there  is  hope  that  they  may  new  begin  to  prosper,  Mr., 
and  Mrs,  Lee,  who  made  such  a  success  of  the  Boys*1  Scnccl  in  Barranquilia,  had 
oo  leave  that  city  on  account  of  uheir  health  and  have  taken  charge  here.  In 
tne  last  ten  years  the  school  ha®  had  eleven  administ  rat  ions,- nuff  sed!  Miss 
McMillin  insists  that  she  is  going  to  give  her  life  to  the  Girls'  School,  but 


A  '  ? - ^  ^ 

.  V  : :■ 


-15_ 


I  tell  her  that  if  Mr*  Sight  comes  along  she  will  chuck  it, -as  her  predecessors 
have  done.  The  one  who  was  here  last  year  went  home  and  was  married,  and  several 
others  nave  done  the  same.  One  can’t  blame  the  young  ladies,  of  course,  but  it 
is  hard  on  the  school.  The  other  teacher.  Miss  Russell,  is  new,  having  arrived 
in  Colombia  only  about  three  months  ago  and  come  up  after  the  meeting  of  the 
mission  in  Barranquilla.  She  has  not  been  well,  probably  due  to  the  altitude. 

And  so  it  goes.  We  get  a  school  staffed  and  the  bacillus  mat rimoniensis  or  some 
other  microbe  gets  in  its  work  and  it  is  all  to  be  done  over, 

I  shall  be  glad  to  get  started  down  the  river  and  look  forward  to  about 
two  weeks  of  rest  ? n.  Medellin  and  the  immediate  vicinity,  Mr,  Wheeler  will 
probably  go  by  airplane  from  Girardot  to  Puerto  Berrio,  thus  saving  a  day,  and 
he  and  Mr,  Barber  will  start  immediately  for  some  of  the  outstations,  on  horse¬ 
back,  I  have  a  lot  of  writing  to  get  up,  so  will  not  go  on  that  trip  but  will 

remain  in  the  town  and  get  up  my  work  and  look  into  local  conditions.  The  air¬ 
plane,  this  week,  upset  in  the  river,  just  as  it  started  from  Girardot  and  al¬ 

most  killed’  the  three  passengers.  The  mechanic  was  drowned.  However,  the  big 
steamer,  "Pichincha",  the  best  on  the  river,  and  the  one  we  were  to  have  taken, 
blew  up  a  day  or  so  later  and  killed  seven  of  the  passengers,- so  that  things 
are  evened  up  a  bit,  I  might  ride  a  mule  down,  but  that  takes  time,  and  a 
horse  is  a  vain  thing  for  safety.  This,  I  take  it,  includes  the  mule,  too.  So,, 
what  is  one  going  to  do  about  it?  Just  take  whatever  he  wishes  and  risk  it, 

I  think, 

So  that  this  will  end  my  letter,  for  the  present.  Tomorrow  I  have  to  work 
and  the  day  following  we  are  §ff>- really  turning  Nfo rt h •  My  next  will  probably 
be  written  from  Antioch,  whose  Capital  is  Medellin,  and  from  the  Barber  home, 

Medellin,  February  16,  1923. 


As  you  will  see,  I  have  moved  my  base  of  operations  down  to  Medellin, 
where  I  arrived  yesterday  evening, -which  means  that  I  am  this  much  nearer  New 
York  and  the  end  of  the  trip! 

We  left  Bogota  early  on  Monday  morning  and  came  down  the  line  to  Girardot, 
Mr.  Allan  came  with  us  and  the  day  went  by  quite  nicely.  We  had  lunch  served 
in  the  car  where  we  were,  there  being  a  table  for  that  purpose,  and  washed  it 
aown  with  various  and  sundry  drinks  from  bottles  of  gaseous  water, 

Reacning  Girardot  about  3:45,  we  went  at  once  to  the  "Pension  Inglesa"1 
where  we  had  a  good  room  assigned  us,  found  some  really  clean  shower-baths,  and 
had  a  decent  dinner.  Tnen  I  had  to  give  an  address  in  the  "'Club  Liberal ,h  of 
the  city.  There  was  a  pretty  good  crowd  out,  so  that  I  got  along  pretty  well, 
being  interrupted  by  applause  now  and  then, -once,  to  be  exact,  I  think, -then 
went  back  to  the  Hotel  and  got  in  a  fair  amount  of  sleep  before  morning,  I 
had  to  be  up  early  to  get  the  boat  down  the  river,  since  it  was  advertised  to 
sail  at  half  past  six.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  did  not  get  away  until  about 
two  hours  later,  but  I  had  to  be  on  board  and  ready  for  it  to  go. 

We  slid  down  the  river  at  a  good  rate,  although  there  is  but  little  water, 
sometimes  backward  and  sometimes  forward  and  sometimes  sidewise,  Eut  we  reach¬ 
ed  Beltran  and  soon  transferred  to  the  railway about  noon, -which  landed  us 
at  the  other  end  about  six  o'clock,  where  we  took  another  steamer,  This  did 
not  leave  her  moorings  until  the  following  morning,  then  we  got  into  Puerto 
Berrio  about  twelve  hours  later,  where  I  went  ashore  and  had  a  piece  of  the 


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night  in  a  fairly  decent  bed,  They  called  me  cut  at  a  little  after  four  , 

to  catch  the  si ^  o’clock  train  that  goes  from  the  very  door  of  the  hotel,- so 
that  I  finally  made  it  all  right!  Then  I  had  a  whole  day  on  that  train  and 
reached  Medellin  last  night  about  6:30,  was  met  at  the  station  by  Mr,  Wheeler 
and  the  young  ladies,  while  Mr*  Berber  had  met  me  a  few  stations  up  the  line 
and  ridden  in  with  me.  And  here  I  am! 

Mr,  Wheeler,  as  I  wrote  ycu,  came  down  on  the  airplane  and  reports  a  good 
trip.  He  went  charging  past  our  poor  little  train  about  five  o'clock  and  got 
into  Paerto  Berric  an  hour  later,  doing  the  whole  trip  in  two  hours  and  a  quarter 
of  flying,  while  it  took  me,  by  boat  and  train,  about  thirty-six*  This  is  a 
good  way  to  save  time,  but,  since  the  weight  limit  is  85  kilos,  I  am  debarred 
from  attempting  it.  This  includes  the  luggage  allowance,  as  well  as  the  weight 
of  the  passenger. 

On  board  we  had  the  usual  crowd  of  travellers,  including  three  young 
Britisners  who  nave  finished  their  terms  of  service  in  Colombia  and  are  going 
i^cme  for  a  t£ip,  There  was  also  the  inevitable  young  couple, -much  more  frequent 
than  in  former  years, -of  a  young  American  wife  and  the  Colombia  husband.  They 
seemed  unusually  devoted,  but  she  is  evidently  of  but  little  culture, -how  could 
she  be  otherwise,  if  she  was  willing  to  marry  him?- and  he  looked  like  a  dys¬ 
peptic  calf,  as  nearly  as  anything  I  could  imagine,  I  often  wonder  what  the 
female  psychology  is  like,  'which  leads  a  woman  to  trust  her  happiness  to  a  male 
biped  such  as  many  of  them  choose!  Certaanly,  the  female  of  the  species,  although 
she  may  be  deadlier  than  the  male,  is  not  up  to  his  standard  of  wisdom  when  it 
comes  to  choosing  a  mate  for  life,  What  any  woman  could  sec.  in  seme  of  these 
mew  calves  that  I  see  running  about,  passes  rry  understanding  and  comprehension, 
But,- that  is  tneir  affair! 

Yesterday  morning,  as  I  have  said,  I  was  routed  out  at  four  o’clock  and 
the  boy  who  did  it  made  his  escape  before  I  could  kill  him.  But,  after  all,  it 
was  fine  to  be  up  and  get  the  early  morning  air,  and  I  finally  forgave  the  fellow 
and  set  myself  to  enjoy  the  fine  view  and  the  freshness  cf  the  morning.  I  went 

down  to  the  train  and  get  a  seat  whi 1 e  it  was  yet  dark,  and  watched  the  sun  rise 

over  the  Magdalena  that  lay  just  below,  It  was  a  gorgeous  sight  to  see  the  day 

grow  brighter  ana  brighter,  as  the  sun  rays  lit  up  the  clouds  in  purple  and  old 

gold;  and;, the  shadows  went  fleeing,  skulking  away  to  the  recesses  of  the  hills 
to  hide  themselves  from  the  god  of  day.  The  Magdalena  went  sliding  along  in  a 
black  flood,  lighted  up  here  and  there  as  the  sunlight  dropped  down  on  it 
through  the  tress  and  clouds,  and  the  steamers,  having  lain  at  their  moorings 
all  the  night,  were  just  starting  up  or  down  trie  stream.  After  a  great  tooting 
of  whistles,  ringing  of  bells  and  blowing  off  of  steam,  one  of  them  would  loose 
its  cables  and  swing  out  into  the  stream,  finally  heading  up  or  down  on  its 
journey.  This  would  be  followed  by  another  and  another,  until  three  or  four 
/ere  all  maneuvering  out  in  the  broad  stream,  in  imminent  danger,  as  it  seemed 
to  the  innocent  observer,  of  fouling  each  other's  cables  or  colliding.  But  they 
.  eemed  to  get  str&ighted  out  and,  when  we  finally  pulled  out  of  the  little 
station,  they  had  all  disappeared,  leaving  only  the  "Pinchincha”,  which  blew 
up  in  this  port  a  few  days  ago,  and  another  smaller  boat,  still  lying  at  their 
moorings,  I  was  very  much  reminded  of  the  harbor  of  Valetta,  in  the  island  of 
Malta,  where  I  saw  the  semaphore  on  the  Mil  wig- wagging  cut  its  messages  and 
the  great  grey  British  warships,  one  after  another,  leave  their  anchorage  and 
•start  out  through  the  narrow  entrance  to  the  harbor  to  begin  their  run, -possibly 
to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  far-flung  line  of  empire. 

As  our  train  climbed  the  hills,  in  the  early  light  of  the  day,  the  cool 
breece  from  fciver  and  mountain  soon  drove  away  the  mosquitoes,  which  had  been 
persistently  flirting  with  my  ankles  and  nipping  at  my  neck  and  hands,  and  soon 
the  sun  shone  out  in  all  his  purple  glory,  the  clouds  rolled  back  behind  the 
hills,  and  one  felt  that  it  was  good  to  be  alive  and  on  one’s  way  to  friends  w1 
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would  receive  one  at  the  end  of  the  day' s  run. 

We  rode  in  the  train  until  about  noon.,  when  we  reached  the  end  of  the  line, 
at  the  little  station  of  Limon,  This  is  about  ten  miles  further  on  than 
Cisneros,  which  was  the  end  of  the  run  when  I  came  this  way  now  almost  five 
years  ago.  Here  we  transferred  to  high-powered  Packard  automobiles  and,  after 
lunch  in  the  little  restuarant,  continued  on  over  the  summit,  which  is  to  be 
pierced  by  a  tunnel,  to  Santiagos,  the  end  of  the  line  on  this  side,  I  select¬ 
ed  my  seat  in  a  good  car  and  went  in  to  lunch..  Hurrying  a  bit,  I  got  out  before 
the  others  and  found  that  baggage  had  been  displaced  in  order  to  make  room 

for  another.  Cl  course,  I  quietly  took  out  that  of  the  other  fellow  and  then 
occupied  uy  seal ,  He  came  along,  looked  at  me,  seemed  t.o  be  sizing  me  up,  and 
quietly  went  ofi  and  took  the  place  of  another.  When  the  other  fellow  came 
along  •  with  bn  s  wife,  there  was,  of  course,  a  great  howl,  mutual  accusations, 
etc,  recriminations,  delicate  suggestions  that  one  or  the  other  was  a  "bruto”, 
a  ’’grosero",  etc.,  wr.il e  all  the  time  I  remained  securely  anchored  in  my  seat 
and  let  the  storm  go  by.  But  we  finally  got  off  and  took  just  an  hour  to  run 
the  seven  miles  to  the  train  on  this  side.  This  we  took  at  three  o’ cock  and, 
as  I  have  written,  a.rrived  in  this  city  about  dark.  I  went  to  the  Girls'  School, 
where  we  had  dinner,  and.  then  we  attended  a  reception,  given  by  the  native  chur^.i 
people  in  our  honor,  and  both  Mr,  Wheeler  and  I  spoke,  although  the  big  dinner 
of  biscuits  and  the  usual  c  one  omit  ants  somewhat  impeded  my  utterance  and  the 
easy  flow  of  my  thoughts.  Many  of  the  people  remembered  me  and  seemed  glad  to 
see  me  back  among  them  and  we  had  a  very  pleasant  evening.  Among  the  many  gcoa 
things  were  letters  from  you  both,  and  a  large  number  of  letters  from  others 
which  had  been  accumulating  in  Barranquilla  for  some  days*. 

I  can  not  refer  to  the  letters  in  full,  just  now,  but  I  am  glad  to  see 
that  you  are  all  well  and  that  you  are  having  a  fine  time.  In  the  same  lot  of 
letters  was  one  from  Mr,  Speer,  in  which  he  says  they  want  me  back  in  the 
offices,  since  Mr*  Inman  is  to  be  away  for  some  time.  This  has  stirred  us  up 
a  bit  and  has  made  me  anxious  to  get  on  our  way  as  fast  as  we  can,  A  letter 
from  Mr,  Phillips,  of  Caracas,  speaks  of  a  Dutch  boat  that  is  to  leave  La  Guay \» 
on  April  4th,  arriving  in  New  York  on  the  16th,  That  looks  good  to  us  and  we 
will  try  to  make  it,  unless  we  decide  to  return  to  Colon  and  thus  up  via  Habana, 
etc,,  as  I  have  already  suggested  we  may  do.  All  this  we  will  have  to  decide  a 
-tittle  later,  as  we  go  on  our  way*  I  ejected  that  Mr.  Wheeler  would  have  gone 
on  down  into  the  valley  of  the  C«uca,  with  Mr,  Barber,  but  they  did  not  get  off, 
aue  to  a  number  of  reasons,  and  we  are  now  trying  to  work  out  some  new  scheme 
for  our  travels,  I  do  not  want  to  take  the  ride  down  into  the  Cauca,  so  will 
probably  go  back  by  train,  leaving  here  on  the  27th,  and  go  on  down  the  river 
x,o  Calomar,  where  Mr.  Jarrett  will  meet  me,  and  where  Mr,  Wheeler  will  try  to 
join  me,  having  come  down  that  same  day  on  the  airplane.  Then  we  will  go  on 
to  Cartagena  and  thence  on  up  the  Sinu  to  visit  our  work  in  that  region,  This 
will  be  our  last  bit  in  Colombia  and  from  Cartagena  we  should  go  right  on  to 
Venezuela,  When  we  get  on  board  the  steamer  for  Venezuela,  we  will  feel  that 
we  are  j^etty  well  on  our  way  tc  New  York,  since  there  will  be  but  little  travel 
in  Venezuela  and  we  may  be  able  to  do  it  all  in  a  week  or  ten  days,  principal, 
in  Caracas, 

I  find  that  the  work  has  advanced  in  Medellin  since  I  was  here.  The  church 
has  been  fixed  up  so  tnat  it  looks  very  well,  and  tne  school  rooms  are  quite 
presentable.  Miss  Sayer  has  gone  home  and  will  not  return,  and  Miss  Doolittle 
and  Miss  Parker, -the  last  only  recently  arrived, -are  in  charge  of  the  school  a 
general  social  work.  We  are  to  look  for  a  site  for  tne  new  church,  which  is 
to  be  built  sometime  soon,  as  also  for  school  properties,  etc.  This  is  one 
of  the  most  influential  cities  in  Colombia  and  we  hope  to  push  our  work  nere 
during  the  coming  years. 


- 


■  • 


■ 


-18- 


This  morning  I  went  to  call  on  Dr.  Carlos  E.  Restrepo,  one  of  the  great 
men  of  the  city,  ex- President  of  the  Repablic,  etc,,  and  had  a  very  pleasant 
Qh&  with  him*  I  am  advertised  to  give  two  addresses  here  in  the  University 
circles,  the  first  on  next  Monday  night  and  the  other  on  the  following  Friday. 
Dr.  Rest  repo  is  to  preside  and  introduce  me,  so  that  we  ought  to  have  a  fine 
set  of  people  out  to  hear  what  I  nay  have  to  say  to  them.  It  is,  as  he  pointed 
out,  a  very  delicate  situation,  here,  since  the  Church  is  strong  and  very 
jealous  of  its  prerogatives,  iCvery  sentence  I  use  will  he  studied  from  every 
angle  to  see  if  I  am.  attacking  the  Church  and  1  shall  have  to  steer  my  little 
bark  with  extreme  care  if  I  avoid  falling  on  the  rock  of  Liberalism,  on.  the 
one  side,  or  "ho  -e  ri  Catholicism  on  the  other.  It  is  the  old  problem  of 
Seylla  and  Charybdir,  but  I  think  that  I  will  get  by  all  right.  At  least  we 
will  have  a  try  at  it  and  have  the  fun  of  trying. 


The  lectuie  on  Monday  is  to  be  in  the  Club  Union,  but  the  other,  at  which 
I  hope  to  use  slides,  will  be  in  the  paranymph  of  the  University, 


Messrs.  Wheeler  and  Barber  will  probably  get  off  on  the  trip  to  the  Cauca 
early  next  week,  so  that  I  will  have  a  week  here,  with  the  members  of  the 
station,  to  look  over  she  various  problems,  writeup  the  station  for  our  Report, 
etc.,  and  get  up  some  of  my  other  correspondence. 


I  am  sorry  to  know  of  the  death  of  Mr,  Garvin, of  Chile,  When  I  saw  him 
last  November  I  felt  that  it  was  for  the  last  time,  and  I  think  he  felt  the  same 
about  it.  I  am  glad  that  I  went  out  to  see  him,  He  had.  done  his  work,  had 
always  been  very  active,  and  kept  up  his  desire  for  work  until  the  very  end. 

I  always  remember  him  as  a  man  who  was  willing  to  do  anything  at  all,  just  to 
keep  the  work  going.  He  had  no  pride  about  himself  and  sought  no  honors  or 
pref eiroent s,  I  shall  write  Mrs,  Garvin  very  soon,  and  I  expect  you  will  be 
doing  the  same. 


This  is  now  Wednesday,  February  21,  so  that  time  is  passing  and  we  shall 
soon  be  leaving  this  comfortable  place  and  again  starting  out  on  our  wanderings. 

I  have  now  been  here  a  week,  and  Mr.  Wheeler  a  day  longer,  and  we  expect  to 
leave  for  the  River  a  week  from  yesterday  morning*  Mr,  Wheeler  and  Mr,  Barber 
made  a  start  for  the  Cauca  ■valley  yesterday  morning,  but,  because  of  illness  on 
the  oars  of  the  latter,  turned  back  after  riding  for  two  or  three  hours,  and 
the  trip  is  now  abandoned.  This  will  give  us  more  time  here,  and  we  will  be 
able  to  use  it , 

Yesterday  afternoon  I  gave  a  lecture  in  the  "club  Union**',  of  this  city, 
before  about  one  hundred  students  and  business  and  professional  men,  and  I  am 
to  give  another  on  Friday  night  in  the  paranymph  of  the  University  of  AntiOch, 
with  slides  to  illustrate  what  I  shall  have  to  say.  We  are  rather  expecting 
tha.t  the  Archbishop  may  call  this  off,  since  he  runs  the  University,  but  we 
have  at  least  got  in  the  first  lecture, -the  first  to  be  given  by  a  Protestant 
representative  in  the  city,  I  am  told,-  and  Mr.  Barber  is  quite  pleased.  If 
we  can  pull  off  the  other,  it  will  be  quite  an  advance.  The  ex-President  of 
the  Republic,  Dr,  C,  E.  Rest  repo,  presided  at  the  meeting  last,  night  and  intro¬ 
duced  me  in  a  very  nice  speech,  and  it  was  a  fine-looking  lot  of  people  who 
were  present.  Women  were  not  expected,  but  five  or  six,  evidently  specially 
invited,  came  in  and  occupied  the  seats  on  the  front  row.  They  were  nice- 
looking, too,  and  were  very  attentive  to  all  I  had  to  say,  I  talked  on  University 
Life  in  the  U,  S.  A.  ,  and  some  men  who  have  studied  in  the  States  came  up  after 
the  lecture  and  spoke  to  me.  But  one  can  see  that  I  am  treading  on  very  diffi¬ 
cult  ground.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  supreme  here  and  I  must  phrase  my 
sentences  very  carefully,  in  order  to  give  no  offense.  If  I  give  the  otner  I 
snail  be  glad  when  it  is  over,  for  it  is  something  of  a  strain,  knowing  that 
every  word  is  being  weighed  against  me. 


. 


•• 


-19- 


Last  night,  after  the  lecture,  we  stopped  at  the  home  of  the  youpg  ladies 
who  have  the  school  and  had  dinner.  They  know  I  like  biscuits,  sc  had  a  good 
supply  on  hand,  as  also  the  concomitants.  They  we  had  some  music  and  reached 
home  about  half  after  nine  o'clock,  pretty  tired  and  ready  for  a  good  sleep* 
This  we  had  and  did  rot  ’’dawn’1  until  a  quarter  of  seven  this  morning.  Most 
of  the  friends  here  in  Colombia,  have  breakfast  at  half  past  sin,  and  so  do 
the  Barbers.  But  we  seem  to  have  '-.Tracked  their  rale  a  bit,  for  we  are  generally 
a  little  late.  When  life  is  sc  short,  anyway,  why  get  up  so  early!  Non  e.  ve:u? 
be  non  e  vero*  e  bei:  trovato., 


Mr.  Barber  is  in  bed  this  morning,  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  the  Doctor 
to  see  just  what  is  the  matter  with  him,  but  it  seems  to  be  merely  a  touch 
of'  the  grippe  and  he  thinks  he  will  be  up  and  about  tomorrow..  Then  we  have  to 
visit  some  of  the  schools  of  the  city,  the  University,  and  see  about  some  sites 
for  buildings  for  our  own  work.  We  have  been  out  into  the  suburbs  and  find  the 
surroundings  of  the  city  most  inviting*  We  took  a  big  Pierce  Arrow  car  a  few 
days  ago  and  went  out  to  '’America"',  a  suburb  lying  to  the  West  of  the  city, 
in  the  continuation  of  this  beautiful  valley.  We  hope  to  secure  some  good 
land  oat  that  way  for  the  two  schools,  and  the  Seminary  which  is  to  be  located 
here,  and  in  the  city  itself  wa  are  locking  for  a  good  site  for  the  central 
church.  In  the  midst  cf  the  city  the  land  is  so  dear  that  we  would  have  to 
use  up  all  our  funds  in  the  site,  but  we  have  found  a  good  lot  near  the  mis¬ 
sionary  homes  which  seems  to  be  in  a  good  location,  and  others  are  under  study. 
They  have  money  enough  to  build  a  good  church,  if  they  do  not  purchase  a  site 
in  the  center  of  the  city, -as  they  seern  determined  to  do..  Teremos.  Later  on 
I  will  tell  you  of  the  lecture  on  Friday,- if  it  com.es  off, -and  finish  up  this 
region  before  starting  down  the  river.  I  am  glad  that  ;e  are  to  go  together, 
for  once  separate!  in  this  country  we  might  not  make  connections  again,  as  we 
had  planned.  So,  it  is.  ate  logo,  which  will  probably  be  Saturday  next,  if  all 
goes  well. 


Medellin,  February  24th,  1925. 

I  shall  nave  time  to  add  a  page  to  what  I  have  already  written,  before 
leaving  this  city,  since  this  is  Saturday  and  we  are  nearing  the  end  of  our 
stay  here- 


Last  night -we  had  the  lecture  in  the  University  and  it  went  off  in  fine 
style.  There  were  about  600  people  out  and  we  had.  perfect  order.  I  thought, 
for  a  while,  that  we  would,  have  to  dispense  with  the  views,  since,  in  true 
South  American  style,  the  man  who  was  to  get  the  machine  ready  did  not  turn 
up  until  about  time  for  the  lecture  to  begin,  then  found  that  his  wiring  was 
toe  short  to  reach  the  nearest  connection,  had  no  more,  was  obliged  to  tear 
down  some  of  the  lights,  broke  the  circuit,  and  had  a  fine  time,  generally. 
However,  with  Mr.  Wheeler's  help,  he  finally  got  things  arranged  and  we  began 
soon  after  the  time  advertised,- eight  o’clock.  I  spoke  for  about  a  half  hour, 
mostly  without  manuscript,  and  then  gave  a  little  over  the  sane  time  to  the 
views.  A  lot  of  the  best  people  in  the  city  were  cut,  among  them  Ex- President 
Pest  repo  and  his  family,  a  brother  of  the  present  President,  etc.,  and  a  number 
of  ladies  who  seemed  to  be  of  the  good  families,. 


We  were  afraid, to  the  very  last,  that  the  Archbishop  might  prohibit  the 
whole  affair  in  the  University,  but  he  kept  quiet  and  we  all  feel  quite  proud 
of  ourselves.  Undoubtedly,  this  is  the  first  time  that  a  representative  of 
Protestant  Christianity  has  been  able  to  get  into  one  of  the  State  universities 


-29- 

of  Colombia,  but  we  hope  that  it  may  not  be  the  last  time.  With  this  open¬ 
ing  the  local.  people  ought  to  be  able  to  go  on  and  do  dome  good  work.  The 
Society  that  had  the  lecture  in  charge  got  out  some  good  handbills,  a  copy  of 
which  I  will  send  ye'd,  and  billed  the  city  with  enormous  posters,  giving  my 
name  and  the  subject,  etc 

This  morning  two  young  men  who  were  present  have  been  in  to  see  me,  to 
talk  over  the  mao  tor  of  their  going  to  New  York  to  study,  and  a  reports?  of 
the  leading  daily  pepsr  of  the  city  is  due  in  a  few  minutes.  I  have  already 
given  one  interview  to  another  paper,  a  copy  of  which  goes  to  you  by  this  mail, 
and  I  t h i Pk Shi s  will  be  the  last. 

On  Tuesday  morning  we  expect  to  start  for  Puerto  Berrio  and  from  there  to 
go  on  down  the  river.,  it  is  said  that  the  river  is  very  > ow,  but  we  are  to 
take  the  E:spross,  or  Ma.il,  boat,  and  this  generally  gets  through  if  any  one 
does.  I  think  we  shall  enjoy  settling  down  on  the  boat  for  two  or  three  days 
and  resting  from  our  labors.  I  have  been  speaking  almost  eV^ry  night,  and  so 
has  Mr.  Wheeler,  so  that  we  begin  to  feel  that  it  will  be  fine  to  be  free  from 
all  this  for  a  few  days.  This  morning  he  was  dancing  about  and  saying  that  in 
seven  weoks  from  today  we  should  raise  New  York*  May  he  be  a  good  prophet, 
is  my  wish]  But  it  looks  as  though  it  would  be  out  of  che  frying  pan  into 
the  fire,  for  we  will  have  to  geo  down  to  bar me s,  give  reports  to  the  Board, 
etc.,  whereas,  now,  we  are  having  a  pretty  good  time,  and  receiving  splendid 
treatment* 


This  morning,  after  my  interview,  we  are  to  take  a r  auto  and  go  out  to  ioc 
at  sites  in  and  near  the  city*  "America ".is  one  of  the  beet  looking  suburbs 
and  we  may  decide  to  buy  considerable  land  in  that  direction,  for  the  schools 
and  the  theological  seminary. 

Yesterday  we  also  walked  and  drove  about  a  bit,  but  did  not  finish.  I 

think  we  are  all  going  in  a  big  car,- for  they  have  some  very  fine  cars  in  the 
city, -Packards,  Pi e re e- - zc: r ow,  etc,,  all  of  which  are  for  rent.  So  that  this 
will  be  my  last  appearance  until  we  get  down  to  Puerto  Berrio  or  on  tc  the 
river,  for  time  goes  quickly  and  we  are  pretty  busy. 


lie  tel  Magdalena,  Puerto  Berrio, 

Eebruary  28,  1923. 


As  you  will  note,  I  am  once  more  on  the  banks  of  the  Magdalena..  We  came 
down  yesterday,  from  Medellin,  and  are  now  here  at  the  Hotel,  awaiting  the 
arrival  of  the  Express  steamer  on  which  we  are  to  continue  our  journey  to  the 
North*  This  boat  was  reported  due  at  noon,  out  one  car.  always  £i  /*i  them  at 
least  anothei  half  day,  and ,  since  it  is  now  well  on  into  the  afternoon,  it 
is  possible  that  she  may  appear  within  the  newt  few  hours,,  It  is  aL  so  eminent¬ 
ly  possible  that  she  may  tie  up  Isaro .fet*  the  night,  allowing  us  che  g  .vuv 
pleasure  of  sleeping  on  board;  where  it  is  unutterably  hot,  rather  than  in 
the  Hotel,  where  it  is  bad  enough,  but  not  quite  as  hot  as  on  board* 

We  had  a  good  day,  on  Sunday,  in  Medellin.  I  spoke  at  the  little  Englis... 
service,  at  eleven  o’clock,  and  at  night,  in  one  Spanish  service,  Mr.  ^heeler 
took  the  main  part  of  the  service  and  I  interpreted  for  him  and  then  ok  fee*  a 
few  words  on  my  own  account.  The  people  of  the  congregation  gave  us  a  beauti¬ 
ful  silk  flag  of  Colombia  which  we  are  to  take  to  the  Board,  and  made  vs  all 
sorts  of  farewell  speeches,  etc.  They  seemed  really  sorry  to  have  us  go. 


' 


- 

. 


•  ■  ■  •  t 

:  . 

,  ■  -  •  •-  -*■ 

•  ■ 

'v  ■"  K.  -  ■  • 


r 

■ 


-21- 


Yesterday  morning  we  were  up  early  and  took  the  train  at  si.-:  o'clock  for 
this  town,  Mr.  Barber  and  the  Misses  Doolittle  and  Parker  came  a  little  dis¬ 
tance  with  us,  from  the  main  station  to  the  smaller  one,  and  then  we  came  on 
alone.  The  day  was  not  so  had  as  we  had  feared  it  might  he,  so  that  we  got 
along  very  wsell  and  reached  this  Hotel  about  half  after  seven  in  pretty  good 
shape.  Then  we  had  dinner  and  were  soon  lost  in  sleep. 


President  Nei  Ospina  is  a.'so  here,  having  come  down  by  airplane  to  meet 
some  of  the  members  of  nis  family  who  are  on  their  way  up  the  ri/er,  having 
been  in  the  United  States  for  seme  time.  One  of  his  sons  came  down  with  us 


on  the  train,  and  also  a  brother.  This  brother  I  met  at  my  lecture  in  the 
University  and  v  .  found  that  we  had  been  in  tne  University  of  California  at 
the  same  time,  j  r.  1892,  He  was  in  the  School  of  Mines  and  I  a  Graduate  student. 

I  have  not  ’cried  to  speak  to  the  President  here,  but  he  seems  to  be  quite  demo¬ 
cratic  and  approachable.  I  saw  him,  five  years  ago,  when  I  was  here,  since  he 
was  then  the  Governor  of  this  Department  and  I  had  to  ask  him  about  the  perse¬ 
cutions  of  our  missionaries,  the  dynamiting  of  one  of  our  church  buildings,  etc  , 
and  suggest  that  it  might  be  well  to  avoid  such  a  line  of  procedure  in  the 
future.  Said  persecutions  ceased,  I  am  told,  a'.u  it  may  be  that  he  remembers 
me  and  would  not  be  altogether  happy  to  renew  the  acquaintance.  At  any  rate, 

I  have  no  reason  to  bother  him,  so  will  not  try  to  talk  with  him. 


Once  more  the  mosquitoes  are  busy  and  I  have  to  keep  scratching  and  thresh¬ 
ing  around  to  keep  them  off.  It  is  pretty  hot,  too,  here,  but  in  the  shade  one 
can  get  along.  But  think  of  the  days  ahead,  on  the  river! 

This  is  the  last  day  of  February,  and  I  remember  that  just  two  months  ago 
today  we  landed  in  Puerto  Colombia  and  went  up  to  Barranquilla.  These  have 
been  two  rather  strenuous  months,  and  we  have  covered  a  good  deal  of  territory^ 
but  cur  stay  in  this  country  is  drawing  to  a  c-ose  and  a  month  from  nc.v  we 
snouid  even  be  cn rough  with  Venezuela  and  on  cur  way  to  Colon,-if  we  return 
t nut  way . 


Two  whopping  good  letters  came  from  you,  just  as  we  were  leaving  Medellin, 
one  from  Elsie,  written  from  Aurora,  and  one  from  Halli-e  May,  written  from 
Pairmont , -and  an  enclosure  from  Patsy,  which  was  the  best  of  all  of  them.  I 
am  glad  to  have  these  and  will  send  a  special  word  in  reply,  from  on  board  the 
steamer  after  leaving  here.  This  general  letter  will  still  be  delayed  a  bit, 
until  we  finish  up  the  Sinu  region  and  return  to  Cartagena  to  embark  for  La 
Guayra.  So,  for  the  present,  I  will  go  to  sometning  else  and  continue  this  a 
little  later. 


On  the  Lower  Magdalena, 

Nearing  Calomar,  March  5,  1923. 

This,  we  hope,  is  to  be  our  last  day  on  the  river,  inasmuch  as  we  are  now 
nearing  Calomar,  where  we  leave  the  steamer  and  take  a  train  for  Cartagena. 
And,  although  the  trip  down  has  been  uneventful  and  interesting,  we  shall  be 
glad  to  change  our  method  of  locomotion  and  get  on  to  terra  firme  once  more. 

It  also  means  that  we  are  nearing  the  end  of  our  stay  in  this  country  and  are 
ready  to  push  o p  to  new  and, -for  Mr.  Wheeler, -unexplored  fields. 

The  mosquitoes  have  been  pretty  bad  on  the  way  down  and  it  seems  to  me 
that  there  are  but  few  inches  on  my  anatomy  that  have  not  the  signs  of  having 
received  a  bite.  I  have  beer  putting  alcohol  on  the  bitten  parts,  especially 
on  my  ankles  which  are  just  one  mass  of  bites,  in  order  to  kill,  if  possible, 
any  microbes,:  that  may  be  left  by  the  biter.  I  had  a  bottle  of  "alcohol  per.fu. 


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txiat  I  "benight  on  'board,  and  had  it  sitting  on  the  floor  by  the  cot  and  used  it 
frequently  during  the  stilly  watches  of  the  night  when  sleep  has  gone  from  me 
because  of  the  pestiferous  insects.  Last  night  my  comp ad re  came  in,  used  the 
bottle,  and  put  it  in  a  new  place,  leaving  in  its  stead  a  bottle  with  a  little 
mineral  water  which  he  had  brought  in,  I  did  not  find  out  the  difference 
until  this  morning,  Remarks  are  unpublishable,  but  it  had,  at  least,  the 
psycnoiogicai  effect,  since  I  imagined  that  it  calmed  the  itching  and  allowed 
me  to  go  to  sleep  again. 


The  t rig.  by  rail,  from  Calomar  to  Cartagena,  is  about  five  hours  in 
length,  and  is  sail  cc  be  hot  and  dusty.  We  are  going  to  put  on  oar  riding 
suits,  so  as  to  save  better  ones  for  the  trip  at  the  other  end. 


This  reminds  me  that,  yesterday,  I  put  on  a  nice  white  suit  and  came  to 
the  table  in  a  sell- congratulatory  frame  of  mind.  Just  at  the  end  of  the  meal 
the  mozo  brought  in  a  cup  of  chocolate  and  was  putting  it  down  in  front  of  me, 
when  I  raised  my  left  hand,  suddenly,  and  hit  the  cup  a  good  square  lick, with 
the  result  that  the  thick  chocolate  poured  down  over  my  suit,  my  tie,  even  my 
white  shoes,  and  I  looked  like  a  streaked  sign-board,  I  had  to  change  com¬ 
pletely,  and,  what  pains  me  immensely,  I  have  but  one  mors  white  suit  left 
clean,  and  the  laundress  id  afar  ofi,  yea  even  in  Ceretel  However,  that  is  al'. 
a  part  of  the  game  and,  to  my  credit  be  it  recorded,  I  did  not  make  a  single 
remark  that  would  merit  expurgation,  but  meekly  rose  and  went  off  to  make  the 
necessary  changes.  As  soon  as  we  reach  Cerete  I  shall  have  to  look  up  a  buxom 
laundress  of  the  sable  variety  and  enrich  her  by  several  dollars5  worth  of 
laundry  work  that  I  need  to  have  donu. 


Mr,  and  Mrs,  Allan,  with  Pixie  and  Buster,  the  two  kiddies,  are  on  board 
and  will  continue  on  to  Barranquiila,  .where  they  take  the  next  boat  for  the 
United  States.  They  go  on  furlough,  to  the  States,  although  she  is  a  New 
Zealander,  and  has  never  been  in  the  States,  and  he  is  a  cannie  Scot  who  has 
spent  but  little  time’neath  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  They  have  done  some  good 
work  in  Bogota  and  are  in  need  of  a  year  of  rest. 

There  are  also  a  number  of  other  Americans  on  board,  most  of  them  travelli 
men  who  are  interested  in  mines,  oil-fields,  etc.  One  of  the  physicians  whom 
I  met  in  Medellin,  Dr.  Lopez  de  Mesa,  is  with  us,  going  to  London  to  study  for 
a  couple  of  years.  He  is  a  Liberal  and  has  been  of  considerable  help  in  giving 
me  historical  facts,  etc.,  that  I  amusing  in  my  reports.  These  Colombian  men, 
like  those  of  the  ether  Latin  American  republics,  are  very  courteous  and  helpfu. . 
and  txieir  conduct  on  board  and  in  general,  so  far  as  one  can  see,  sometimes  puts 
to  shame  that  of  seme  of  our  own  fellow-citizens. 


My  ne*Jt  contribution  to  this  letter  will  be  from  Cartagena,  possibly  before 
we  go  up  the  Sim.  This  will  depend  on  the  time  we  have  to  wait  in  the  city  be¬ 
fore  making  the  trip,  and  the  conclusion  will  be  added  after  our  return. 


Cartagena,  March  5th,  1923. 


As  you  will  see,  we  have  completed  the  Magdalena  journey  and  are  now  in 
the  old  city  of  Cartagena.  We  reached  Calomar  about  seven  c‘  clock  on  Saturday 
night  immediately  went  ashore  to  take  seats  in  the  train.  This,  however., 
loafed  around  and  did  not  leave  the  station  until  just  ten,  and  we  counted  on 
getting  into  Cartagena  in  about  three  hours.  As  usual,  all  the  unexpected  th: 
Happened  along  the  way,- a  hot  box  on  the  car  ahead,  delays  at  the  crossings, 
lots  of  freight  to  be  shunted  around,  etc.,  so  that  we  were  five  hours  on  the 
:ay  and  did  not  getvto  the  hotel  and  to  bed  until  about  half  after  three  o*  cl 


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in  the  morning.  Then  we  had  a  service  at  ten,- or  Mr.  Wheeler  did,  -  in  English, 
sc  that  we  had  to  get  out  pretty  early.  However,  I  d^d  not  feel  so  knocked 
out  as  1  had  ejected  and  we  not  only  went  to  the  service  but  stayed  to  have 
lunch  with  the  .American  Consul  and  his  wife,  Mr,  and  Mrs.  Sawyer,  who  have  been 
in  Colombia  about  three  years. 

Yesterday  afternoon  we  had  a  good  sleep,  so  that  I  am  all  right  and  ready 


for  what  the  trip 

service  of  the  l-tt.'i.e  church  here 


Si  nr.  may  have  in  store  for  us9  Last  night  we  attended  the 
,  where  they  are  all  blacks,  and  I  did  the 


talking  this  tine,,  letting  Mr.  Wheeler  have  th= 


re  st . 


There  was  not  a  soul 


in  the  room  outs:. a.  of  the  speakers,  who  was  not  black.  The  little  girl  who 
played  the  or  .an  had  evidently  stuck  her  head  in  the  flour-barrel  yust  before 
coining  to  church,  but  did  not  succeed  in  changing  her  color  and  the  line  of  de- 
mo-rKation  between  flour  and  pure  black  was  very  evident. 

We  walked  back  'go  the  hotel  after  the  service,  and  again  saw  the  old  walls 
that  surround  tne  city,  walls  that  withstood  the  attacks  of  the  buccaneers, 
men  like  Drake,  Hawkins,  ''alter  Raleigh,  etc.,  net  to  count  those  of  other 
nationalities,  who  swarmed  the  Spanish  Main  and  harried  the  forces  of  Spain 
in  the  good  old  days  of  ycre,  This  wall  is,  in  some  places,  thirty  feet  high  and 
many  feet  tnick,  In  some  spots  it  is  used  as  a  driveway  for  carriages,  automob~d 
etc.,  wiiiie  in  others  it  is  being  torn  down  and  the  material  used  for  constructio 
purposes  in  the  city.  The  whole  city  still  has  that  medieval  sort  of  air  about 
it  and  one  can  easily  imagine  the  throngs  of  Spanish  Caballeros  that  once  occup¬ 
ied  it,  and  the  thousands  of  poor  negroes,  caught  like  v\Id  beasts  in  the  Conge 
and  haled  nit her  in  the  holds  of  the  clave  ships.  They  have  had  their  revenge, 
as  witnessed  in  the  kinky  hair  and  in  the  sable  color  of  almost  all  the  popu¬ 
lation.  The  percentage  of  negroes  here  must  be  greater  than  in  any  one  of  our 
Southern  States,  since  it  is  an  exception  to  see  a  person  who  dees  not  have 
evidence  of  having  been  touched  by  the  tar  brush. 

They  are  avenged, too,  in  that  leprosy,  contracted  by  them  in  the  filthy 
holds  of  the  ships,  has  been  spread  about  through  Colombia  and  foreign  physicians 
now  estimate  the  number  of  lepers  in  the  country  as  high  as  50,00,  although 
native  physicians  declare  that  there  are  not  more  than  5,000. 


Tonight  some  time,  the  exact  hour  depending  on  when  the  owners  get  the 
engine  of  tn_  motor- •boat  into  good  shape,  we  are  to  leave  for  the  Sim.  I 
nave  not  been  able  to  get  the  itinerary  into  my  head,  as  yet,  but  know  that 
we  are  to  be  on  the  motor  boat  ail  night,  with  no  beds  in  which  to  rest  our 
bones,  and  that  tomorrow  we  take  an  automobile  and  drive  to  some  of  the  in¬ 
terior  Gowns,  getting  to  Oerote,  which  is  Mr.  Jarrott,:s  home,  on  Wednesday. 

Inen  we  go  cn  to  Ilonteria,  a  few  hours  further  on,  up  the  river,  and  spend  a 
day  or  so  there,  returning  to  Cerate  for  Sunday  next,  and  starting  down  the 
river  again  cn  Monday  reaming  here  the  following  day.  We  now  plan  to  take 
the*  hydroplane  from  here  to  Barranguilla,  on  Thursday  next,  and  th^n  meet  the 
steamer  "Venezuela”  at  Puerto  Colombia  on  Saturday  the  l?th  and  embark  for  La 
Guayra  ana  Caracas.  Tnis  is  a  boat  of  tne  Dutch  line  and  touches  at  the  is  Ian-, 
of  Curacao  on  the  way.  It  now  looks  as  though  we  might  take  a  boat  of  the 
.same  line  cut  of  La  Gusyra  on  April  4th,  as  I  have  already  suggested,  but  this 
we  Coil  not  arrange  until  we  reach  Caracas  and  see  the  people  tne  re  and  get  the 
itineraries  . 


My  next  will  tell  you  of  the  trip  to  the 


Siriu. 


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-24- 


Cerete,  Colombia, 

March.  3rd,  1S23. 

I  had  not  expected  to  add  anything  to  this  letter  until  after  cur  re¬ 
turn  to  Cartagena;  but  I  find  a  good  typewriter  placed  at  my  disposition,  said 
machine  belonging  to  Miss  Helen  Jarrett,  and  I  have  a  little  time  at  my  dis¬ 
posal,  so  that  I  will  take  time  by  the  fetlock  and  write  a  page  or  two  and 
thus  have  it  out  of  r.y  system  while  it  is  fresh* 

As  you  will  see,  we  are  at  least  on  the  Sim,  a  place  of  which  I  have 
heard  much  and  wr non  I  have  wanted  to  see,  but  which  I  hardly  dared  hope  would 
be  included,  eventually,  in  my  itinerary.  But,  here  we  are.  And,  to  go  back! 

We  were  ordered  on  board  "The  Cold  Spring”',- which  sounded  real  swank,-  at 
eight  ol  clock  Monday  night  -  So  we  had  dinner  at  the  hotel  and  appeared  punctu¬ 
ally  at  tne  docks  at  'the  hour  appointed.  We  found  that  the  said  CS  is  a  cat- 
boat,  about  thirty  feet  long,  over  all,  with  about  seven  feet  beam.  The  berths 
are  arranged  along  the  aides.,  and  the  ceiling  is  so  low  that  a  real  man  can 
not  stand  erect  at... any  time.  Consequently,  we  lay  down,  at  once,  the  horizon¬ 
tal  position  being  the  only  one  possible.  We  were  told  that  we  were  soon  to 
start,  since  they  were  overhauling  the  engine.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  did 
not  get  loose  from  the  nock  until  about  midnight.  At  ten  o'clock  the  following 
day  we  we re  still  in  sight  of  Cartagena,  although  we  ought  then  to  have  reached 
Covenas,  our  destination,  WD  miles  away,  to  the  South  By  noon  we  had  got  out 
in  front  of  the  Bay  of  el  Mo rro squills,  and  in  the  open  sea,-  The  daily  heavy 
wind  came  up.  and  car  little  boat  tossed  about  like  a  cccnle- shell,-  I  a.on!t 
know  what  a  cock- shell  is,  but  that  seems  to  be  the  proper  simile  for  such  a 
description!  I  saved  my  reputation  and  did  not  contribute  to  the  larder  of 
iiejjtune,  but  my  friend  Mr.  Jarrett  was  loudly  and  frequently  mentioning  some¬ 
thing  about  the  Duke  of  ’’York”',  and  Mr.  Wheeler,  who  has  sailed  the  Seven  Seas 
looked  mighty  green  around  the  gills.  To  add  insult  to  injury,  they  served  us 
a  so-called  lunch  about  noon,  said  lunch  consisting  of  soggy  boiled  potatoes, 
which,  as  my  family  knows ,  is  a  dish  of  vhich  I  am  particularly  fond,  accompan¬ 
ied  by  ditto  rice.  Nwda  mas ,  although  we  knew  they  had  ham  and  other  delicacl  - 
on  board.  Needless  to  say,  we  did  not  cat  very  much  of  the  concoction  and  then 
resumed  our  horizontal  attitude  to  see  what  the  gods  might  have  in  store  for  us 
later  on. 


I  ought  to  say  tnat  the  owners  and  operators  of  the  above-mentioned  CS 
-re  fellow  Americans  of  a  type  too  frequent  in  these  parts,  who  have,  in  seme 
tfc-y,  feOt  possession  of  tnis  old  boat  and  set  out  to  do  business  along  this  coast 
Two  of  them, let  me  say,  for  One  delectation  of  any  of  our  British  friends,  who 
....ay  read  these  lines,  are  now  Britishers,  having  served  in  the  British  army- 
hey  signed  up  while  drunk,  they  say!-and,  accordingly  lost  their  American 
citizenship,  I  do  not  imagine  that  any  one  will  grieve  at  this  loss.  But  they 
are  certainly  nervy,  real  modern  pirates  of  the  Spanish  Main. 


To  make  a  painful  story  short,  we  finally  limped  into  the  beautiful  Bay 
of  Covenas  about  five  o’clock  in  the  afternoon,  more  dead  than  alive.  We 
—anaged  to  climb  cut  of  our  little  cupboard,  where  we  had  been  immured  for 
21  hours,  scrambled  up  on  top  of  the  swinging  and  bucking  boat,  and  from  there 
.jumped  onto  the  docks.  It  was  sure  good  to  be  on  tierra  firme  and  I  was  so 
mad  that  I  staggered  away  without  saying  good-bye  to  the  Captain  or  the  mate 
or  tne  cook! 


However,  every  clcud  has  a  silver  lining  and  we  found  a  good  little  notel 
m  Covenas,  to  which  we  quickly  reparied,  had  a  cold  shower-bath  and  a  good 
dinner,  turned  m  early  and,  by  the  next  day,  were  almost  over  the  effects  of 


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the  experiences  of  the  day  "before  and  ready  to  set  out  on  new  ventures, 

Covenas  is  a  pert  at  which  an  American  Packing  Company  has  put  in  docks, 
erected  a  fine  big  plant  for  packing  and  slaughtering  the  animals, -that  pro¬ 
cess,  you  understand,  is  reversed  in  actual  workj-which  fact  also  accounts 
for  the  presence  in  this  little  and  otherwise  insignificant  port  of  a  dean 
comfortable  Hotel. 

Covenas  is  *xCt  quite  as  far  West  as  is  the  mouth  of  the  Sim,  but,  for¬ 
tunately#.,  we  were  to  leave  the  C§  here  and  go  up  the  river  by  automobile,— 
rather,  go  to  Cerete  in  this  way,  following  the  general  course  of  the  river 
but  notactual.ly  touching  it  until  our  arrival  in  this  town  itself.  We  were 
not  in  a  hurry  to.  get  away,  since  the  distance  is  only  seventy  miles,  so  we 
took  things  easy  and  finally  got  off  about  ten  o’clock  ,  in  a  Pord  which  was 
decidely  the  worse  for  wear  but,  as  it  proved,  capable  of  taking  us  as  far  as 
we  wished  it  to  go.  The  route  lines  along  the  river,  though  some  miles  away, 
and  through  a  rather  thickly  settled  part  of  the  country.  The  inhabitants  are 
black,  of  various  shades  of  this  color,  and  I  do  not  recall  having  seen  a 
single  white  man,  woman  or  child  on  the  trip  up.  For  the  most  part  they  live 
in  the  jungle  in  little  huts  just  like  those  we  see  pictured  as  the  homes  of 
the  people  of  Africa,  in  the  Congo  ar  Zuiuland,  and  there  must  be  but  little 
difference  in  the  general  mode  of  li'e  in  the  two  countries.  I  think  I  have 
never  seen  a  country  with  such  a  dense  canine  population.  They  would  come 
roanrg  out  at  us,  from  every  hut,  sometimes  a  full  half-dozen,  and  these 

wculd  hardly  cease  paying  us  their  respects  before  anotner  group  would  be  on 
us.  Two  or  three  got  too  close  to  the  swiftiy .revolving  wheels  and  were  run 

over  and  I  looked  back  once  just  in  txme  to  catch  a  last  glimpse  of  one  which 

had  been  particularly  pestiferous,  and  had  used  horrible  language,  lying  on 
his  back  with  his  four  legs  waving  madly  in  the  breeze,  I  hope  he  is  still 

there,  for  he  was  certainly  one  Of  the  most  profane  dogs  I  have  ever  heard 

make  remarks  about  a  passing  automobile.  Children  also  abounded.  And,  why  not? 
It  costs  mighty  little  to  raise  them,  so  why  not  have  a  lot  of  them?  There  are 
no  school  problems,  for  we  did  not  see  a  single  school  building  in  the  ride  of 
a  aay,  although  in  one  small  village  where  we  had  lunch,  they  confessed  to  havia 
q>ne  somewhere  about.  Then,  the  problem  of  clothes  does  not  enter  in  until  the 
youngster  is  at-  least  eight  or  ten,-the  exact  age,  I  imagine,  depending,  in 
pari,  on  the  proximity  to  the  main  road  of  travel.  One  good  dame,  with  whom  we 
had  lunch  in  her  Hotel,  said,  very  naively  "he  dado  a  luz  trece  hijos.  Seis  de 
estan  muertos ,  siete  estan  vivos,  v  tengo  otro  g,qui  en  el  vientre"',  Tnis  last 
a  perfectly  self-evident  fact  which  she  might  have  omitted,  but  she  evident'!’,. 
Jy^ed  that  it  was  best  to  advise  us.  But  she  gave  us  a  pretty  good  lunch,  just 
tho  same,  eggs,  bread,  coffee,  bananas,  which  we  supplemented  with  some  bottled 
Waiter  that  we  carried  with  us.  On  the  strength  of  this  we  went  on  to  the  end 
gf  the  day. 

About  three  o’clock  we  reached  a  little  t own,  located  in  the  midst  of  a 
great  swamp,  where  we  had  to  leave  the  Ford  and,  crossing  a  pestilential  lagoon 
a  canoe,  tobk  another  car  on  the  other  side  which  brought  us  on  into  Cerete, 
'•Yfiich  we  reached  about  six'  o*clock.  The  last  part  of  the  ride,  as  we  neared 
this  town,  was  better,  since  we  were  passing  through  a  great  pasture  where  there 
are  thousands  of  fat  cattle  that  are  soon  to  be  driven  down  the  river  to  the 
slaughter  and  packing  plant  Covenas.  Gates  of  all  kinds  have  been  put  up 
oy  the  trusting  owners,  but  our  boy  simply  Jrhrev;  these  down  and  left  them  lying 
on  the  ground  as  we  tore  away  to  others.  I  do  not  have  a  record  of  the  remarks 
..iv.de  by  the  cattleman*  but  I  judge  that  they  take  it  as  a  part  of  the  day’s 
■ork  and  keep  men  and  boys  on  hand  to  put  the  gates  up  again.  The  sable  and  c<  - 
f  fcpulatioii  continued  to  the  very  g,ates  of  this  city  and  I  have  not  yet  seen  an; 
>*ave  the  missionaries,  who  has  not  been  deeply  dyed  with  the  tar  brush. 


-26- 


®he  Jarretts,  our  missionaries,  are  English,  and  have  "been  on  the  Sinu  for 
something  like  twelve  years.  They  were  formerly  members  of  the  ECJSA  and  worked 
in  Peru.  Mr.  Jarrett  was  once  driven  out  of  Cuzco  and  had  to  make  the  trip 
overland  from  shat  city  to  Lima,  which  was,  at  that  time,  a  journey  not  only 
difficult  but  fraught  with  many  perils.  Mrs.  Jarrett  is  a  trained  nurse  add 
seems  to  preside  over  the  advent'  into  this  world  of  most  of  the  population 
hereabout.  Their  daughter.  Miss  Helen,  is  a  young  lafby  about  Z'6  and  has 
recently  become  a  member  of  the  mission,  after  some  training  in  the  States  and 
England,  and  is  no-  m  charge  of  several  little  schools  which  they  have  es¬ 
tablished  in  a.u:  nea*  Lev*-,  5?,.  They  have  another  daughter,  2o.-ih.leen,  who  is 
studying  nursrny  E^glana,  aid  a  boy,  Harry,  who  lives  in  Canada*  The 
Jarretts  have  ..  r-.  a.  great  piece  of  work  in  this  region  and  ''Pen  Juan”',  one 
can  see,  is  very  much  respected  by  the  whole  cc.mmuy.  They  came  here,  first, 
to  do  Christian  wort  cr\  a  great  plantation  owned  by  a  Mr.  Coleman,  a  wealthy 
American  who  still  nan  interests  here,  but,  since  this  man  had  to  retrench 
during  the  war,  the  work  was  taken  over  by  our  Board  and  is  now  a  part  of  the 
programme  of  the  mission.  Just  up  the  river  is  Morteria  where  there  is  a 
great  deal  of  Liberal  sentiment  and  where  I  am.  to  speak  in  the  ’’Club  Liberal'!' 
on  .Saturday  night,  Tney  have  recently  had  a  big  row  between  the  political 
parties  and  the  principal  leaders  are  in  prison,  thrown  there  by  the  Conserva¬ 
tives.  This  afternoon,  we  drive  to  San  Carl os,  two  or  three  hours  from  here, 
hold  a  meeting,  and  I  then  return  here  while  Mr.,  Wheeler  and  Mr.  Jarrett  re¬ 
main  over  night  and,  t  omorrew,  ride  to  Canpanito,  where  "..hr.  s  same  Mr.  Coleman 
has  offered  to  give  our  Board  a  plantation  of  about  Gk'OO  acres,  v/ith  cattle, 


etc.,  all  complete.  W>  are  afraid*  however,  that  the. to 


■  e  colored  in¬ 


dividual  in  the  woodpile,- which  would  not  Da  strange  an.  ■■.mb  here, -so  that  we 
want  to  see  the  land,  the  situation,  etc. ,  before  accept  ing  the  Proposition. 


Having  reached  this  pi rt  of  the  world,  I  can  no  longer  write  you  that 
we  are  journeying  toward  Cerete, 


"On  the  way  to  Cerete  where  the  nakes  darkies  play. 

And  the  dawn  comes  up  like  thunder  cut  o’  Cartagena  Bay!"1 


I  do  not  think  that  i  would  care  to  give  my  life  to  the  work  in  this 
region.  Medellin  or  Bucaramanga  would  not  be  bad,  or  even  Bogota  or  Barran- 
quilla.  But  this  region  seems  to  lie  under  a  black  pall  that  has  settled 
down  over  it,  and  is  still  redolent  of  the  atrocities  of  the  freebooters  and 
buccaneers  and  pirates  cf  the  early  centuries.  Moreover.'  with  a  mongrel 
population,  in  which  the  black  stream  predominates,  I  can  not  see  £ow  it  can 
have  any  future  worth  while.  The  people  are  ignorant,  sensual,  degraded, 
superstitious,  simple- minded, -much  like  the  blacks  at  home, -and  can  never  be 
developed  into  a  people  of  any  real  backbone.  But  I  can  appreciate  what  tne 
Jarretts  have  done  and  am  glad  that  some  one  has  a  spirit  of  seif  sacrifice 
more  generously  ueveloped  than  is  mine, 

Tne  Catholic  Church  has  done  but  little,  although,  no  doubt,  it  claims 
all  these  people  as  its  own.  We  saw  only  one  little  church  along  the  road 
yesterday,  and  two  sheds  where  they  hold  occasional  services,  nothing  more 
after  all  these  four  hundred  years, -no  doctor,  no  hospital,  nothing  at  all 
that  really  represents  Christianity.  And,  yet,  should  we  wake  up  and  decide 
to  establish  work  in  some  one  of  the  villages,  put  in  a  dispensary,  or  do  any- 
tning  for  the  good  of  this  poor  people,  I  am  sure  that  the  representatives  of 
the  Catholics  would  roar  so  that  they  could  be  heard  all  over  Colombia.  That 
is  the  dog-in-the-manger '.attitude  they  always  assume,  so  that  we  must  just  go 
ahead,  paying  no  attention  to  their  roars. 


• 

• 

. 


. 

( 


. 


, 


> 


-27- 


We  e.xpect  to  take  a  canoe  down  the  river,  which  will  mean  a  day  floating 
down,  with,  we  hope,  the  chance  tc  get  a  shot  at  the  caymanes  that  line  the 
oanks,  and  then  catch  another  boat  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  for  Cartagena* 

I  have  just  sent  a  long  telegram  to  the  American  Consul  in  Cartagena,  asking 
aid  to  try  to  secure  the  yacht  owned  by  one  of  the  oil  conpanies  to  meet  us 
-e-tfc  Tuesday  morning,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Sinu  and  take  us  on  tc  Cartagena* 
x  hope  he  nay  be  cfbie  to  do  so,  a lid.  thihk  he  will.  If  not,  then  I  do  not 
know  when  we  will  again  see  Cartagena  and  get  out  for  Venezuela,  This  is  the 
dry  season  and  the  regular  boats  are  not  running,  so  that  we  must  make  private 
arrangements  as  bnvt  we  may.  However,  cheery-o  and  we  will  do  the  best  we.  can 
and  let  the  result  tr.ke  <irare  of  itself*  We  have  done  well,  so  far,  and  will 
probably  come  out  cu ..  right  in  the  end. 


Cerete,  March  9th,  1923. 

I  am  alone,  this  morning,  in  the  Jar ret t  home;  that  is  to  say,  Mr*  Wheeler 
and  Mr.  Jarrett  are  away,  so  that  I  am  getting  up  some  work  and  writing  some 
letters  while  the  house  is  quiet*  Miss  Helen  is  away  at  her  school  work  and  Mrs, 
Jarrett  seems  to  be  out  the  most  of  the  time,  so  that  the  house  is  still  and  I 
can  work  without  interruption*  Howe  rer,  before  getting  down  to  work,  I  will 
add  a  page  to  this  letter  in  order  to  keep  it  up  to  date. 

Yesterday  afternoon,  about  four  o’clock  we  started  cut  in  an  auto  for  San 
Carlos,  a  small  town  about  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  from  here,  and  drove  through 
the  great  pastures  that  are  between  the  two  places.  Oh  cue  of  these  farms,  alone, 
chore  are  20,000  cattle,  and  this  is  but  one  of  many*  Tn ..  s  i  s  a  great  cattle 
district,  most  of  the  animals  being  brought  here  to  be  fattened  for  the  packing 
plant  at  Covenas,  down  the  river  and  on  the  caost,  as  I  have  told  you. 

We  drove  along  the  great  swamps,- cienagas  they  call  them  here,-and  saw  a 
good  deal  of  wild  animal  life.  There  are  many  leopards  and  jaguars  in  these 
places,  as  also  alligators,  reptiles  of  all  kinds,  and  many  different  species 
of  monkeys,  sloths,  and  biards  of  gaudy  plumage.  And,  let  me  say  right  here, 
that  I  have  killed  my  first  alligator.  According  to  the  passengers  on  the 

steamers,  I  left  one  or  two  kicking  their  last  kicks  on  the  sand  bars  along  the 

river,  but  did  not  get  to  make  sure  of  them.  On  the  way  over,  last  night,  we 
found  one,  about  five  feet  long,  that  was  making  an  e. ^edition  from  one  swamp 
to  another,  and  nailed  him.  I  saw  him  and  called  to  the  chauffer  to  stop  and 
shouted, "Un  cayman!'”  The  others  thought  I  was  "seeing,  things”',  and  did  not 
odieve  me.  However,  they  all  piled  out  and  I  soon  p>ointed  out  the  bicho  lying 
behind  a  clump  of  bushes.  Mr.  Wheeler  proceeded  to  slip  up  and  take  a  picture 
of  him,  and  he,- that  is,  the  aliigator,-made  no  objection  but  lay  perfectly 
c$uet.  Then,  I  picked  up  a  heavy  knot  of  wood  that  was  lying  near  and  sined  a 
blow  at  his  head.  Fortunately,  I  had  good  aim  and  threw  so  hard  that  I  stunned 

Him.  Then,  with  a  heavy  club,  I  soon  despatched  him  before  he  had  time  to  re¬ 

cover*  I  afterward  held  him  up  by  the  tail,  although  he  was  icretty  heavy,  while 
Mr.  Wheeler  took  a  snap  of  us.  If  it  comes  out  well  you  will  see  it,  sometime. 
There  was  a  small  stream  near  by  and  these  saurians  often  travel  about  by  land, 
going  from  one  swamp  tr  stream  to  another. 

We  had  dinner  in  a  ’*■  ..hut  in  San  Carlos,  and  the  dear  old  lady  did  her 
best  to  give  us  something  we  could  eat;  but  I  confess  that  I  did  not  do  the  meal 
justice.  The  family  dog,  who  seemed  to  sense  the  situation,  stuck  close  to  my 
side  and  ate  my  share  of  the  chicken,  and  I  think  my  c  onroad  re  also  contributed 
to  his  happiness.  We  had  just  come  in  from  the  street  which  was  full  of  poor 
people,  dozens  of  nakes  pickaminies  running  about  with  their  distended  bellies 


. .  - 


»* 


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-28- 


showing  the  effects  of  hookworm,  other  kinds  of  abdominal  wrorms,  and  a  dozen 
other  diseases,  and  I  must  admit  that  the  sight  did  not  give  me  an  appetite. 

The  water  served  us  looked  like  lemonade,  it  was  so  muddy,  and  one  does  not 
know  how  many  kinds  of  microbes  are  cutting  around  on  the  edge  of  the  glass, 
waiting  for  a  chance  to  get  into  the  human  anatomy  *  not  to  mention  those  in 
the  water  it  self  <,  San  Carlos  is  a  town  of  about  4,000  people,  with  two  thousand 
more  in  the  surrounding  bush,  and  there  is  no  doctor.  The  people  just  die,  when 
their  time  comes,  or  before,  as  it  generally  happens,  and  no  one  thinks  anything 
about  it.  There  is  a  Catholic  Church  building,  but  the  priest  comes  around  only 
once  or  twice  a  year,  when  there  is.,  feast  of  some  .kind  to  be  celebrated,  and  then 
he  charges  so  much  for  his  services  that  the  people  will  not  have  him.  Not  long 
ago,  when  he  was  there,  an  old  lady  died  and  the  family  asked  him  to  bury  her. 

He  asked  fifteen  pe^os  for  the  service,  which  the  family  could  not  pay.  He 
finally  came  down  to  eight,  but  the  family  still  insisted  that  they  could  not 
pay  anything.  Consequently,  they  went  to  Mr.  Jarrett,  who  happened  to  be  in 
town,  and  he,  of  course,  did  the  work  for  nothing.  This  irritated  the  priest  a 
good  deal  and  created 'so  much  comment  that  he  has  not  been  able  to  do  much 
since  then,  while  Mr.  Jarrett  seems  to  have  the  confidence  of  all  concerned. 


We  have  had  a  native  worker  in  the  town  for  some  time,  and  there  is  an 
organized  church  with  a  considerable  membership.  The  building  i  used  for  a 
school  aurirg  the  day,  and  has  a  bei*  that  is  louder  and  more  musical  than  the 
one  on  the  neighboring  Catholic  church.  The  whole  property  belongs  to  Mr. 
Coleman,  who  was  the  man  that  brought  Mr.  Jarrett  here  at  the  beginning,  but  it 
is  rented  to  our  mission  at  a  nominal  rental. 


This  native  worker  had  dinner  wivn  us  and  we  were  asking  him  about  the  il¬ 
literacy,  etc., of  the  town.  He  worked  out  figures  to  show  t  hat  probably  five 
per  cent  of  the  population  can  read  and  write, -which  is  high  because  of  tne  work 
of  our  school  for  the  past  years.  In  other  similar  towns,  not  over  two  psreent 
are  literate.  There  is  no  school  for  boys  now  running  in  the  town,  since  the 
man  who  was  there  was  a  drunkard  and  immoral  and  the  school  went  to  pieces  under 
his  charge.  The  school  for  girls  has  about  20  children  in  it,  and  this  ISlall 
the  Government  is  doing  for  the  intellectual  uplift  of  this  town, -and  that  is 
more  than  it  does  for  some  other  places.  We  have  a  little  school  for  girls,  with 
a  registration,  pn  past  years,  of  as  many  as  65  girls.  Just  now,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  year,  it  is  still  almost  empty  but  many  others  are  promised  and  will  be 
coming  in  soon. 


This  native  worker  seems  to  know  every  family  and,  in  reply  to  our  quest¬ 
ions,  stated  that  there  are  probably  thirty  married  coupled  in  the  town;  the 
rest  just  .live  together  as  long  as  it  suits  them,  then  change  off  or  separate. 

These  thirty  couples,  counting  five  children  to  the  family,  would  give  a  total 
legitimate  population  cf  210,  out  of  a  total  of  from  from  to  six  thousand, - 

although  the  parents  themselves  are  not  necessarily  of  legitimate  birth  simply 
oe cause  they  happen  to  have  been  married.  And,  yet,  there  are  people  who 
say  tnat  evangelical  missionaries  not  needed  in  Colombia. 


After  the  service,  I  drove  back  through  the  silent  forest,  Mr.  Wheeler 
and  Mr.  Jarrett  remaing  behind  to  ride  on,  today,  to  another  center  of  our  work 
just  beyond  San  Carlos.  Now  and  then,  when  we  had  to  step  to  allow  the  boy  to 
run  ahead  to  open  gates,  I  could  listen  to  the  noises  that  rise  from  the  forest 
at  night.  One  could  easily  imagine  that  ail  sorts  of  strange  beasts  were  on  the 
prowl  and  imagine  the  sound  of  the  parting  of  the  bushes  as  they  passed  along 
and  the  soft  swishing  of  the  leaves  and  twigs  and  they  resumed  their  position 
after  the  animal  had  passed  on  its  way.  Bats  and  owls  swooped  down  almost  to 
within  touch  of  my  hand,  but,  with  muffled  wing,  we  re  scarcely  audible  in  their 
flight.  The  heavy  scent  of  the  flowers  and  dense  vegetation,  that  seemed  to 
relax  ana  shed  their  cool  fragance  after  being  kept  back  by  the  heat  of  the  da'r, 
tilled  all  the  atmosphere.  The  sky  was  deep  purple  and  the  stars  swung  steamy 


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-29- 


overhead,  friendly  and  constant  Orion  occupying  tthe  center  of  the  stage;  wisps 
of  clouds  floated  here  and  there,  and  in  the  patches  of  moonlight,  one  could 
imagine  the  jungle  folk  looking  out  at  us  and  wondering  what  new  animal  this 
might  he,  t.bat  carried  such  .lights  in  itssheai  and  rumbles  as  it  run!  And, 
in.  the  quiet  of  the  night,  surrounded  by  the  silence  and  alone  with  my  thoughts* 

I  confess  to  a  twinge  of  conscience  as  we  swept  pas  the  clump  of  bushes  that  held 
the  poor  dead  thing  whose  life  I  had.  so  rot  hies  sly  beaten  out  only  a  few  hours 
before!  For,  who  an  I  to  take  away  the  God-given  life  of 'even  a  hideous  croco¬ 
dile  that,  in  the  p-ans  of  Infinity,  must  have  its  part  to  play?: 


Saturday  morning,  March  10,1923, 

This  afternoon  I  am  to  go  up  the  river  to  Monteria,  with  Mr.  Jarrett,  where 
I  am  to  speak  in  the  ’'Club  Liberal'”  on  Evangelical  Work  in  South  America^.  I 
understand  that  the  directory  of  said  Club  is  advertising  this  meeting  as  under 
its  auspices, -trying, no  doubt,  to  make  political  propaganda  thereby,-  so  that 
I  shall  have  to  make  it  clear  at  the  beginning  of  my  a duress  that  we  are  not 
mixed  up  with  any  political  party,  either  here  or  at  home. 


Early  this  morning  we  went  over  into  town,- the  principal  pa f  of  the  village 
lies  on  the  other  side  of  an  arm  of  ' ne  river  of  Sinu,  which  passes  just  in  front 
of  the  Jarrett  home, -and  called  on  the  Mayor  and  other  two  authorities.  We 
also  stopped  in  to  see  the  priest,  who  happens  to  be  in  town  for  this  week  end. 

He  is  a  Spaniard,  by  birth  and  education,  and  is  quite  liberal  in  his  attitude 
toward  our  work.  He  and  Mr.  Jarrett  have  been  good  friends  for  a  long  time  and 
get  on  well  together.  We  had  a  good  conversation  with  him  and  found  that  he 
tells  the  truth, -at  least  more  nearly  than  others  we  have  consulted.  He  is  the 
only  priest  in  this  immediate  region,  which  includes  four  or  five  considerable 
villages  with  all  the  country  district  lying  near,  and  e  stimates  that  he  has 
about  25,000  people  under  his  charge.  Of  course  this  means  that  he  can  not  see 
them  all,  even  if  he  wanted  to,  more  than  once  or  twice  a  .year,  while  it  is 
probable  that  the  country  people  never  see  him,  unless  they  happen  to  go  to  town 
when  he  is  there. 

We  asked  him  a  number  of  leading  questions  and  found  that  he  answered 
as  r early  as  he  could  with  exact  statistics.  He  admits,  for  example,  that  at 
leas*;  eighty  per  cent-  of  his  people,  in  the  towns,  can  not  read,  while  those 
who  live  in  the  country.-,  he  sayd,  know  nothing  at  all”, -meaning  that  prac¬ 
tically  all  of  them  are  analpLabets.  On  the  point  of  illegitimacy,  he  said 
that,  at  least,  the  same  percentage  would  hold.  This  he  blames  on  the  civil 
government  which,  as  he  says,  makes  concubinage  illegal  but  does  nothing  to 
enforce  said  law,  and  the  church,  he  claims,  can  do  but  little  alone.  It  is 
probable  tnat  ninety  per  cent  would  be  more  nearly  correct,  in  both  cases,  but 
there  is  no  eject  statistic  on  the  point.  In  this  region,  people  are  born 
and  live  and  get  married,-or  do  not  marry, -and  die,  and  there  is  no  record 
kept  of  them.  The  law  provides  formularies  fcr  the  purpose  of  statistics, 
but  they  are  rarely  used.  The  civil  marrigge  la w  is  obligatory,  but  is  seldom 
used  and  the  judge  who  marries  a  couple,  according  to  the  plain  law  off the  land, 
is,  by  the  influence  of  the  archbishop,  soon  deposed  from  his  office  and  an¬ 
other  appointed  who,  it  is  hoped,  will  be  more  amenable. 


This  is  the  most  depressing  part-  of  the  world  that  I  have  ever  seen,  X 
think,  and  I  shall  be  glad  to  get  down  the  river  once  more  and  smell  the  clean 
o^one  of  the  sea.  Here,  everything  seems  dirty  and  there  is  no  life.,  no  energy 
in  the  people.  They  seem  unable  to  do  anything  for  themselves.  Yesterday  a 
commission  of  three  gentlemen  called  on  me,  having  come  down  from  Monteria  for 
the  purpose,  to  ask  that  we  put  a  school  in  one  of  the  little  villages  nearby. 

I  asked  for  cost  of  room  for  the  purpose,  the  salary  we  would  have  to  pay  a 


' 


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-30- 


good  teacher,  etc.,  and  then,  very  naturally,  asked  how  much  each  child  could 
pay  per  month  toward  the  support  of  the  school  and  in  return  for  its  education. 
This  was  fend  entirely  new  idea  to  them  and  I  had  to  explain  that  we  can  not 
go  about  putting  in  free  schools,  that  the  people  are  always  expected  to  pay 
something,  etc.  They  could  hardly  grasp  the  idea.  But  there  are  many  calls 
for  help,  like  the  above,  and  I  wish  we  could  put  in  the  schools  that  are  need¬ 
ed.  But  we  lack  both  funds  and  workers. 

Just  now  we  are  worried  as  to  the  possibility  of  getting  down  the  river,  in 
time  to  make  our  engagements  and  catch  the  boat  for  Venezuela,  since  all  nav¬ 
igation  on  the  river,  practically,  is  stopped,  due  to  low  water.  However,  I 
agi.  no-!:  worrying.  In  some  wa y  we  will  get  out  and  arrive  at  our  destination! 

"I  see  icy  way  as  birds  their  trackless  way. 

I  shall  arrive — what  time, what  circuit  first, 

I  ask  not:  but  unless  God  send  his  hail 
Cr  blinding  fireballs,  sleet  or  stifling  snow. 

In  some  time,  his  good  time,  I  shall  arriver 
He  guides  me  and  the  bird.T 


Sunday,  March  11th,  1923. 

This  is  to  be  our  last  day  in  this  region,-we  hops, -so  -that  I  will  add 
a  last  page  or  so  to  this  letter  and  count  on  finishing  it  from  Cartagena. 

We  have  not  yet  heard  of  a  boat  that  will  take  us  down  the  river  tomorrow, 
but  are  expecting  to  find  one  and  get  away  early  in  the  morning. 

Yesterday  afternoon  Mr.  Jarrett  and  I  went  to  Monteria,  as  we  had  planned. 
Mr.  Wheeler  felt  that  he  could  not  spare  the  time,  so  that  he  remained  at  home 
to  work.  We  left  here  about  half  after  one,  in  a  Ford  car  belonging  to  Dr. 
Therwell,  the  Manager  of  Mr.  Coleman*'s  interests  in  this  vicinity  and  drove 
up  the  river  about  seventeen  miles  to  Monteria,  stopping  in  the  little  village 
of  Mateo  Gomez  from  which  a  Committee  had  come  the  day  before  to  see  me  about 
starting  a  school  there. 

We  reached  Monteria  about  halp  past  three  and  drove  about  the  streets  for 
a  While, -both,  to  see  the  town  and,  as  seems  to  be  the  custom  in  these  towns, - 
to  let  people  know  we  had  arrived.  It  is  a  good  deal  like  a  circus,  in  which 
there  is  a  street  parade,  with  the  animals,  the  band,  etc.,  just  to  attract 
attention  and  advertise  the  function.  I  suppose  that  I  was  the  wild  animal  on 
exhibition,  and  what  we  lacked  in  the  way  of  a  band  was  made  up  by  the  con¬ 
tinual  tooting  of  our  horn  by  the  driver. 

Then  we  went  to  the  little  Hotel,  the  only  one  in  the  town  of  about  8,000 
people,  and  took  a  final  drive  about  town,  with  the  usual  accompaniment  of 
the  horn  of  the  Ford,  etc.  After  dinner,  a  committee  of  the  ’’Liberal  Club" 

Came  to  the  Hotel  to  get  us  and  pilot  us  down  to  the  Club.  The  President  of 
the  Club  is  the  leading  physician  of  the  town,  and  a  very  agreeable  and  seeming¬ 
ly  capable  man.  The  Club  does  not  have  very  preposessing  surroundings,  but  is 
spacious,  which  was  what  they  wanted  last  night.  It  seems  to  be  a  sort  of 
social  center,  for  the  families  of  the  members  as  well  as  for  the  men  themselves, 
since  there  was  a  considerable  number  of  ladies  in  the  parlors  and  receiving 
the  visitors. 

The  President  of  the  Club,  the  doctor  mentioned  above,  introduced  me  to 
the  audience  about  half  after  seven  and  I  talked  to  the  crowd  for  about  45 
minutes,  telling  them  something  of  what  our  Evargelical  work  has  done  for  the 


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~  \ 


-31- 


one  various  countries  of  South  America.  The  big  j*atio  .vas  full  of  seated  peo¬ 
ple  and  others  standing,  and  the  full  attendance  was  calculated  to  be  from -600 
to  1,000  people.  Taking  even  the  lower  figure,  which  would  be  very  conserva¬ 
tive,  it  was  a  very  inspiring  audience  and  I  greatly  enjoyed,  speaking  to  the 
people.  I  had  perfect  attention,  throughout,  although  people  kept  coming  in 
up  to  the  very  end,  and  was  frequently  interrupted  by  applause.  The  President, 
wr.en  he  presentee  me,  asked  the  men  to  remove  their  hats  and  to  cease  smoking, 
which  e.2.1  did  with ono  protest*  A  large  number  of  people  were  crowding  around 
the  doors  and  hanging  over  the  fence  that  runs  along  the  street  on  one  side  of 
the  open  yard  in  van ch  I  was  speaking,  and  there  are  workmen's  houses  all  about 
the  yard, too,  many  of  them  full  of  men  and  women  who  were  listening,  so  that 
it  wou_d  nave  been  impossible  to  get  an  exact  estimate  of  the  number  who  heard 
me  sp  eak . 


'  '  .We.  were  l^avipg  the  Club  by  a  quarter  past  eight,  since  I  left  immediately 
on  finishing  my  address,  and  looked  around  for  the  car.  It  was  not  to  be  seen, 
so  we  walked  back  to  the  Hotel,  accompanied,  by  the  President  of  the  Club  and 
others*  Still  he  did  no'*  appear, ~i » e. ,  the  chauffeur  with  the  car.  We  waited, 
ordered  drinks, -itaionade,  of  course,-  and  then  waited  some  more,  Finally  a 
ocy  said  he  knew  where  the  fellow  was,  and  offered  to  go  and  get  him.  Mr* 

Jarrett  gave  him  twenty  cents  and  away  he  ran.  Of  course,  he  did  not  ran  far, 

and  never  went  to  get  the  driver, -since  he  had  received,  his  pay*  Then  Mr, 
Jarrett  got  desperate,  took  a  coach  and  drove  to  the-  place,  found  the  beggar 
asleep  in  bed,  pried  him  cut,  and  drove  back  with  him.-- jus t  two  hours  after 
the  address  had  been  finished,  that  is  to  say,  after  we  dad  xost  two  hours 

waiting  for  him*  To  my  credit,  let  it  be  said  that  I  made  no  remarks  when  he 

finally  appeared. -possibly  because  no  language  with  which  I  am  familiar  offers 
a  suit  able  vocabulary  for  such  an  occasion.  But  we  then  charged  home  along 
the  river  bank,  where  I  often  thought  he  would  surely  jump  unto  the  stream 
far  below,  and  reached  home  in  an  hour,  although  we  had  to  stop  and  open  31 
gates  by  the  way,  as  well  as  navigate  the  car  among  the  sleeping  hers  of 
cattle  that  seem  to  prefer  the  j-ath  rather  than  the  soft  grass  at  the  side* 


Just  as  I  was  leaving  the  Club  a  letter  was  handed  to  me  by  a  messenger, 
and  because  of  its  special  English  Phraseology,  it  should  be  preserved  here. 
It  runs,  literally,  as  follows:- 


"Doctor  Wesbter  Browning,  City.  I  have  a  great  pleasure,  to  know,  that 
your  important  person,  it  is  here  in  this  city  where,  all  peoples  were  waiting 
for  that  important  commission,  two  or  three  months  ago.  Everybody  here  want 
the  chorch,  because  it  is  of  great  necessity  here  in  this  town.  I  am  Fernando 
Gonzalez  Blanco,  one  chief  of  liberal  politic  here,  but  I  cant  to  be  in  the 
conference  to  night  because  I  have  to  be  alert  with  the  enemies,  they  are  gothic 
autorices)  the  others  are  in  Cartagena,  (here  there  fellow  sone  names  of  men 
who  are  prisoners  in  Cartagena)  I  am  ready  to  work  in  everything  concerning 
to  your  important  labour,  I  wish  to  see  you  tomorrow  morning,  here  in  this 

house  that  I  am;  the  bearer  is.,., . is  one  of  tre  best  fellows  of  this 

city,  Uf  you  please  you  can  tell  him  at  what  time  he  can  go  there  to  your 
office  or  house,  and  he  can  to  accompany  you  here.  I  want  to  speak  with  you 
some  important  points  in  according  with  our  parpoorcese,  I  wait  your  answer. 

Very  truly  yours,”' 

I  think  that  I  get  the  drift  of  it  ail  e^mept  that  of  the  "gothic  auttoirdau"  ^ 
and  tne  "parpoorcese”  at  the  very  end.  I  was  sorry  not  to  be  able  to  go  to  see 
nim#  but  Mr.  Jarrett  will  do  so,  after  he  returns  from  taking  us  down  the  river, 
And  it  just  dawns  on  me  that  "parpoorceses  "is  a  modernized  way  of  spelling 
"purposes!”’  Isn’t  it?: - 


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-33- 


This  is  the  first  region  in  Latin  America  where  the  people  are  urging  the 
Protestants  to  come  in  and  establish  work.  The  situation  is  so  unusual  that  ore 
hc.rdly  knows  how  to  handle  it*  and  yet  it  is  evident  that  the  movement  is*  very 
largely*  political  *  so  that  our  workers  will  have  to  go  slowly*  Just  as  we  were 
beginning  the  address*  a  woman  sent  in  asking  me  to  go  and  baptize  her  baby 
which  was  dying,  I  could  net  go*  of  course,  but  "Don  Juan”'  slipped  out  and  did 
it  for  her.  I  do  not  know  who  she  was*  but  hfe  says  he  found  her  in  a  poor  little 
hut  with  the  baby  practically  dead  in  her  arms  .  It  was*  no  doubt*  a  relief  tc 
her  to  have  the  chi-d  baptized  >- for s  as  most  of  them  say  in  regard  to  the  bapt¬ 
ism  by  the  priest*  so  she  probably  felt  that  "there  may  be  something  in  it  and 
we  will  be  on  the  safe  side’1. 


There  is  a  priest  in  the  town  of  Monteria*  just  one*-and  only  three  for 
all  the  region  of  the  Sirru*  with  some  100*000  population*- and  he  is  very  fanati¬ 
cal  and  disliked  by  all  excexct  a  few  families  whom  he  keeps  under  his  control. 

In  the  meeting  of  last  night*  there  were  many  women,  seemingly  the  wives  of 
the  members  of  the  Club.  There  is  a.  conference  of  some  kind,  in  this  Club* 
every  Saturday  night*  and  the  missionaries  are  frequently  invited  to  address 
the  crowd.  It  is  av great  opportunity*  but  I  do  not  see  how  we  are  to  meet  it, 
simply  because  of  a  lack  of  workers  ana  funds. 


Sunday  is  a  great  day  in  these  river  towns  and  all  the  world  and  his  wife 
come  in  to  spend  the  day*  most  of  them  riding  on  the  dimn native  burros  that 
abound  in  this  region.  These  donkeys  are  tied  up  to  bu’vcs  or  posts  Just  out¬ 
side  the  town*  as  well  as  in  it*  and  are  of  an  exceedingly  vocal  breed.  Con¬ 
sequently  the  air  is  full  of  theranost  doleful  sounds*  for  hardly  a  moment 
passes  that  one  of  them  does  not  break  into  song, -and  this  house  seems  co  be 
right  in  the  midst  of  the  leading  members  of  the  chorus! 

%  n©rfc  will  have  to  be  written  from  down  the  river.  Until  then*  Good-bye. 


Cartagena*  March  15th,  1923. 


As  you  will  see  from  the  above  address,  we  are  once  more  back  on  the  coast ,- 
ana  right  glaa  we  are  to  be  nere*  alive  and  as  well  as  we  are.  My  last  page 
was  written  from  Cerete*  on  Saturday  last*  as  I  remember*  so  that  I  will  have  to 
go  back  and  take  up  the  thread  of  my  narrative  where  I  left  off  on  that  day.- 

On  Sunday  we  had  a  good  day  in  Cerete*  with  a  big  meeting  in  the  chapel  at 
night.  This  meeting  was  attended  ty  some  200  people*  inside  and  at  the  doors 
and  windows*  and  a  great  many  more  listened  in  from  the  nearby  houses,  including 
tne  man  who  had  suggested  stopping  our  meeting  of  the  Friday  night  before  in 
Monteria.  "Lon  Juan”  said  that  all  the  best  people*  the  authorities*  etc  of 
the  town  were  tnere*  all  ears  to  hear  what  it  was  all  about  and  to  find  something 

so  criticise.  We  will  escape  the  criticism  and  "Don  Juan"'  will  have  to  hear 

it*  if  there  is  any*  since  we  are  not  to  be  there  to  hear  about  it. 

We  had  made  our  plans  to  leave  Cerfefee  on  a  small  motorboat  at  eight  o’clock 

Monday  morning*  and  so  we  went  up  the  riter  a  cile,  at  that  hour  to  embark*  as 
we  had  arranged  the  night  before  with  a  turco  who  owns  the  boat.  About  nine 
o’clock  the  engineer  sauntered  along  and  proceeded  to  take  his  engine  to  pieces. 

At  noon*seeing  that  it  was  useless  to  wait  longer*  we  went  home  to  have  lunch, 
much  to  the  surprise  of  Misia  Florencia  and  Senorita  Elenita  who  thought  they 
had  got  rid  of  us  in  the  morning.  At  four  o’clock  in  the  afternoon  the  engineer 
came  along  to  say  that  he  was  ready  to  start*  but  we  had  made  arrangements,  by 
that  time*  to  remain  in  town  until  the  following  morning  and  then  made  the 
run  down  to  Covenas  by  Ford,  even  as  we  had  gone  up.  So  we  told  the  man  to  go  tc. 


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-53- 


which  he  did,  and  we  had  another  good  night's  rest  in  the  good  beds  of  the 
Jarrett o,  and,  early  next  morning  were  off  in  our  little  Ford  for  the  coast. 


This  trip  was  uneventful ,  since  we  had  been  over  the  road  only  a  week  be- 
fore,  ana  we  reached  the  little  Hotel  in  Covenas  about  five  in  the  afternoon 
and  proceeded  to  have  a  good  shower-bath  and  a  good  dinner  and  went  to  bed  early. 
It  has  been  rather  a  difficult  day  and  we  were  tired.  Once  the  Ford  got  Mired 
down  and  we  ali  had  to  get  out  in  the  mud  and  dig  it  out  and  lift  it  onto  firm 
land.  Frequently,  too,  we  had  to  get  cut  and  walk  up  a  hill  or  over  a  particular¬ 
ly  rough  piece  of  ground,  but  we  got  in  all  right,  which  was  the  principal  thing 
we  cared  for. 


As  soon  as  we  reached  the  town  we  found  out  that  the  ''Covenas1’,  a  motor- 
boat  belonging  to  the  packing  Company,  was  to  leave  the  following  night,  Wednesday, 
so  that  we  felt  sure  of  our  transportation  to  this  town  and  slept  with  a  good 
conscience.  We  spent  the  next  day  in  getting  up  our  work,  in  the  way  of  reports 
and  correspondence,  and,  finding  that  the  boat  was  not  to  go  out  until  three 
o’clock  in  the  morning,  we  had  dinner  in  the  Hotel,  made  a  call  on  the  Manager 
and  his  wife  after  dinner  was  over,  and  then  went  to  bed  to  be  called  at  half 
after  two  in  the  morning. 

We  were  to  go  at  three,  and  we  had  two  men  engaged  to  calluus  at  half 
past  two, ..the  result  was  that  we  were  routed  out  an  half  after  one-,  each  vying 
with  the  other,  I  suppose,  in  promptness  and  the  receiving  of  the  tip.  We  thus 
had  an  hour  and  a  half  to  dress  and  walk  a  quarter  of  a  mile  bo  where  the  boat 
was  tugging  at  her  cables  in  the  wind  that  was  blowing  in  from  the  sea#  By 
strenuous  effort  we  made  it  and  got  on  board  and  found .a  place  to  lie  down  long 
before  the  time  set  for  starting. 

I  ought  to  say  that  the  "Covenas"  is  the  ex  "Cherokee”,  the  private  yacht 
of  Richard  Croker,  Boss  of  Tammanay  Hall  and  real  ruler  of  Mew  York  City  for 
many  years.  It  was  called,  in  common  parlance,  "Dick  Croker* s  Flpating  Brothel", 
and  I  expect  it  could  tell  many  a  tale  of  high  revel  and  debauchery  which  it  has 
witnessed.  Mot  it  is  degraded  to  making  the  run  along  this  coast  and  is  ruled 
by  a  pair  of  negroes  from  the  Island  of  San  Andres,  a  possession  of  Colombia 
off  the  coast  of  Honduras  where  all  the  people  s^eak  English,  and  practically  all 
are  Protestant s.  She,- the  boat,  not  the  island,-  is  beautifully  finished  off 
in  mahogany  ana  plush  sofas,  and  must  have  been  a  beautiful  creation  in  the  heyday 
of  Croker^s  power.  There  are  two  staterooms  especially  well  finished  and  the 
Manager  gave  orders  that  we  were  to  occupy  these  and  the  best  sofa.  But  we  found 
both  dirty  and  most  disreputable  and  had  to  order  a  cleaning  up,  the  spreading; 
of  supposedly  clean  bedding,  etc.,  before  lying  down  in  them.  At  six  this  morn¬ 
ing  I  was  up  and  out  on  the  deck,  since  some  women  nearby  were  seasick,  the 
sea  was  rough  and  I  felt  the  need  of  some  air.  "Den  Juan"  then  took  my  place 
for  a  wnile,  but  also  soon  sppeared  on  deck  where  wel  all  remained  until  we 
docked  in  this  city  about  noon.  The  sea  was  pretty  rough  for  a  while  and  we  all 
Pelt  rather  the  worse  for  wear  when  we  finally  got  out  on  solid  earth,  again  and 
congratulated  ourselves  on  the  fact  that  the  trip  ito  the  Sinu  was  over. 

We  hurried  up  to  the  hotel,  had  lunch  and  started  out  to  see  about  steamers, 
etc.  Mr.  Wheeler  had  intended  to  fly  over  to  Barranquilla,  an  operation  which 
takes  only  about  forty  minute$,but  desisted  in  view  of  several  situations  and 
we  are  how  to  wait  here  together  to  see  what  aevelopes.  We  hope  to  get  a  Fruit 
boat  out  on  Saturday  night  or  early  Sunday  morning,  and  make  connection  in  Puerto 
Colombia  with  the  Dutch  boat  on  Sunday  or  Monday.  But  we  can  not  be  sure  what 
will  happen  and  we  may  be  held  up  in  this  region  for  a  week  or  more,  awaiting 
a  steamer  for  Venezuela* 


*.  J  .  .  . 


-54- 


I  have  refrained  from  omitting  that  a  perfectly  ripping  case  of  tooth¬ 
ache  has,  for  the  last  two  weeks,  added  to  the  hilarity  of  living,  ’out  it  seems, 
to  have  calmed  down  a  bit  now.  When  here  before  Lwent  to  see  a  dentist,  who 
graduated  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  who  turned  out  to  oe  pretty 
dark,  with  ail  the  characteristics  of  a  darky.  He  filled  three  teeth  for  ine, 
the  first  time  I  ever  allowed  a  dark  to  plow  around  in  my  mouth  with  his  fingers, 
and  I  have  not  got  the  taste  out  yeti-  but  they  ached  worse  than  ever  all  the 
time  I  was  in  the  Sinu.  Today,  however,  they  seem  to  have  given  up  the  .job 
and  are  quiet.  The  above  mentioned  dentist  charged  me  twelve  perfectly  good 
dollars  for  his  work,  which  took  him  about  a  half  hour, -which  has  added  to  my 
feeling  of  disgust;  with  myself  for  going  to  him.  However,  what  can  a  fellow  do, 
in  a  land  where  all  tne  natives  have  been  touched  with  the  tar  brush  and  stain¬ 
ed  a  more  or  less  uark  hue?  In  ail  our  trip  to  the  Sinu  I  do  not  think  we  saw 
a  half  dozen  people,  outside  of  the  three  missionaries,  who  were  not  oi  African 
descent,  to  a  greater  or  lesser  degree.  This  wave  of  color  has  swept  all  over 
tnis  coastral  region  and  few  nave  escaped  contamination  therefrom.  Lepers, 
tooip  who  are  always  found  among  colored  people,  abound  and  we  saw  some  with 
practically  all  the  face  eaten  away,  the  mouth  and  nose  gone  and  just  a  big  hole 
where  they  were.  Others  suffer  from  elephantiasis  and  have  the  legs  swollen 
until  they  resemble  the  legs  of  a  pachyderm .  You  sure  would  not  want  to  look 
on  them!  Add  to  tne  above  facts  this  other  that  at  least  eighty  per  cent;  of 
theppeople  suffer  from  syphilis  or  other  form  of  venereal  disease,  according 
to  medical  authorities,  and  you  will  see  that  this  is  a  real  terrestrial 
paradise.  The  people  are  prolific,  or  else  the  populate  in  would  die  out.  The 
captain  of  the  boat  today  tola  me  that  he  is  one  of  a  family  of  25,  and.ia 
passenger,  a  friend  of  "Don  Juan",  is  said  to  be  one  of  an  even  100  children,- 
of  tne  same  father. 


March  16th,  1923. 


I  am  glad  to  have  these  two  adys  here  in  Cartagena  to  go  over  the  city 
more  thoroughly  and  get  to  know  its  interesting  old  centers  as  I  did  not  know 
tnem  before.  We  have  been  around  the  old  churches,  the  shops,  the  public 
s qua. res ^  eic.^and  t-^e  city  grows  @n  one  the  longer  one  stays  in  it.  The 

old  building  which  was  the  center  of  t lie  Holy  Inquisition  still  stands,  with 
its  thick  heavy  walls,  and  is  the  peaceful  home  of  one  of  the  old  families  here. 
Tne  instruments  of  torture  have  disappeared,  of  course,  but  one  can  see  the 
grated  windows  through  which  the  heretics  must  have  peeped  out  from  their 
little  cells,  these  cells  now  uased  as  storehouses  of  the  business  which  is  con¬ 
ducted  on  the  first  floor,  and  the  clerk  led  us  up  the  stairs  and  into  the  coun¬ 
cil  chamber,  where  tne  sentence  of  death  was  generall  passed  on  the  recalcitrant 
ones,  and  then  pointed  out  the  room  in  which  they  were  put  to  death.  A  favorite 
method  was  to  tie  tne  heretic  on  a  bed  of  spikes,  and  then,  by  machinery,  lower 
a  similarly  spiked  bed  fro©. above  and  this  drive  the  spikes  through  the  body 
from  two  directions  at  the  same  time.  They  also  had  what  tney  called  the 
"iron  virgin", -an  image  of  the  Virgin,-more  than  life  size,  which  was  supposed 
to  give  a  last  embrace  to  the  condemned  one.  The  image  opened  and  the  insides 
were  lined  with  sharp  spikes  which,  when  it  closed  by  force,  were  driven  through 
and  through  the  body  of  tne  poor  beggar  within.  This  was  surely  an  embrace 
t^at  one  would  not  want  repeated,  even  if  he  were  left  with  life,  which  would  be 
doubtful.  Religion!  Religion!  What  crimes  have  been  done  in  thy  name!  And, 
today,  there  go  about  these  streets  low- brewed,  cowled,  greasy,  fanatical  in&iv; 
who  would  be  glad  to  return  to  the  balmy  days  of  the  inquisition  and  put  me  arm 
other  similar  heretics  into  the  clammy  arms  of  the  virgin,  break  my  bones  on  the 
specially  designed  grids  which  they  had  for  the  purpose,  puli  out  my  nails,  r 
vat  my  eyes  and  tongue,  then  throw  me,  macerated  and  broken,  into  the  neighbc 
i-.'.goon.  If  looks  could  kill  I  would  have  perished  a  long  time  ago  at  thehhanis 
of  taese  and  similar  minions  of  Rome, -but  I  am  still  going  strong! 


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lagoon.  If  looks  coula  kill  I  would  have  perished  a  long  time  ago  at  the  hands 
of  chese  and  similar  minions  of  Rome* -but  I  am  still  going  strong! 

We  vxsibesd*also  the  old  church  of  Peter  Clever*  the  priest  who  made  a 
speciality  of  baptizing  the  negr  slaves*  having  administered  this  sacrament  to 
more  than  two  hundred  thousand  or-  these  sable  individuals*  as  well  as  to  hmrnber- 
lee  English  Moors  ny  otros  her^geb" *  as  the  records  runs.  He  was  after  recog¬ 
nized  and  his  remains  rest  in  the  old  Jesuit  church*  on  the  wall  of  which  there 
is  a  tablet*  written  in  English*  Spanish*  French  and  German*  stating  that  the 
church  is  dedicated  to  him.  It  is  a  grimold  fortress*  of  the  colonial  times*  arm, 
like  the  other  but  a  block  or  so  away*  must  have  seen  many  bllody  seenes  in  whi ci¬ 
ne  reties  figured  very  .largely*.  If  you  have  read  Hilaries  KingsieyTs  1 'Westward  Ho*'' 
you  will  see  mention  made  of  this  region*  of  these  same  buildings*  ere.  If  you 
have  hot  readvfchis  hook*  do  so  as  soon  as  possible. 

Weaalso  went  into  the  Cathedral  to  so-a  the  wonderful  alter  of  marble  which 
.Is  fche> chief  attraction  in  a  bui]  ding  that*  because  of  its  vivid  colors*  is  ad- 
uiirably  adapted  to  be  a  place  of  worship  of  these  color-loving  darkies.  The 
story  is  that  this  altar*  already  made*  piece  to  his  piece*  was  shipped  across 
from  Spain*  by  the  Pope*  to  be  set  up  in  this  church.,  Tvh.ce  was  the  ‘ship  on 
which  it  journeyed  sunk  by  corsairs*  and  twice  did  the  bones  in  which  said  altar 
was  packed*  float  out  of  the  wreckage  and  drift  into  the  path  of  passing  vessels 
in  order  to  be  picked  up  and  sent  on  their  way*  Finally*  after  a  final  shipu. 
wreck*  as  if  disdaining  further  attention  from  mere  man*  they  formed  themselves  in¬ 
to  the  semblance  of  a  fleet*  silently  pursued  their  way  across  the  deep*  regardless 
of  pirates*  buccaneers*  corasirs*  and  finally  came  to  rest  on  the  shores  of 
Cartagena*  just  below  the  point  where  they  were  erecting  the  CathedralF  The 
proof  that  all  tne  above  is  true  is  tha  fact  tint  the  said  boxes*  with  the  altar 
witnin*  were  found  on  the  beach*  where  they  had  lain  for  many  years.  Some  nard- 
nearted  merchants  finally  opened  them*  found  some  elegantly  carved  mabler  within* 
and  immediately  decided  that  it  would  sell  at  a  good'  price  in  Spain*  and*  putting 
them  on  board  a  barkantine*  started  them  across  the  seas.  Rat  a  storm  arose* 
the  shijj  was  forced  to  put  back  into  the  harbor  of  Cartagena*  and*  the  good 
bishop  having  heard  of  it  all  by  this  time*  they  were  finally  recognized  in  their 
proper  character*  their  history  written  down  for  the  edifi elation  of  generations 
then  unborn*-  and*  there  the  altar  is*  today,  as  a  proo'f  of  it  all!  Of  course 
there  is  nothing  remarkable  in  the  fact  that  marble  floats.  Being  merely  crystal¬ 
lized.  limestone*  a  rock  that  one  simply  can  net  keep  under  water*  there  is  no 
reason  why  it  should  lost  its  characteristic  bouyancy  by 'the  accidebt  of  crystal¬ 
lization  and  sink  like  other  mere  rock  generally  does!  The  miracle*  if  any*  for  ■.* 
consists  in  the  persistency  shown  by  these  pieces  of  marble,  a  persistency  worthy 
of  the  Calvinistic  doctrine  of  the  perse rvano.s  of  the  saints*  and  their  know  led*  „ 
of  navigation,  ocean  currents*  etc,.*  which  always  enabled  them  to  keep  to  their 
course  and  finally  bring  up  on  the  coast  of  Colombia*  in  tlpe  tranquil  bay  of 
J'artagena,  and*-most  profound  and  striking  mystery  of  all*  directly  under  the  wal - 
at  the  point  where  they  were  to  be  used  in  the  ne  vly  erected  cathedral!  Ana*  aS 
I  have  said*  if  any  one  doubts  it*  there  they  are  in  the  pud-pit  today*  erect  and 
glorious*  and  no  one*  save  an  occasions.!  travelling  heretic*  thinks  of  the  j.eriis 
tney  must  nave  undergone  in  their  travels  aerross  the  great  deep#*  or  finds  any 
doubt  in  his  own  mind  as  to  the  complete  veracity  of  the  story! 


Well*  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  now  time  to  bring  this  letter  on  my  travels 
in  Colombis  to  a  close.  I  began  it  just  two  months  ago  today,  and  tomorrow  the 
Fruit  boat  comes  in  wnich  should  take  it  to  you*  During  these  two  months  I  have 
seen  a  good  deal  of  Colombia*  and  my  travels  have  been  facilitated  by  sundry  and 
various  methods  of  locnotion.  I  have  used  the  steamboat  on  the  rivers;  the  toy 


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-36- 


train  that  runs  up  into  the  Department  of  Santander,  for  27  kilometers;  the 
iusty  mule  that  carried  me  throughout  that  Department;  a  high  powered  Dodge 
from  Belen  to  Bogota;  a  horse  to  visit  the  Lake  of  "El  Dorado1''  near  Bogota; 
the  train  to  return  to  the  river  and  the  usual  steamers  and  trains  ro  get 
back  to  the  coast;  the  diminut :  /e  "Cold  Spring  ",  the  cat-boat  in  which  wa 
risked  our  lives  in  order  to  get  up  into  the  Sinn;  the  ex— yacht  of  Dick  Croke'r 
to  get  back  here;  and  I  still  have  to  take  the  r-3ixiolaub  one  of  the  mag inifi cent 
fleet  of  the  United  Fruit  to  get  over  to  Puerto  Colombia.,  from  whence,,  by  a 
Dutch  or  French  boat,  we  hope  to  go  on  our  way  toward  the  capijai  of  Veneuzeia> 
thus  leaving  the  coasts  of  Colombia,.  I  hope  that  you  will  enjoy  following 
me  on  this,  journey  through  this  interesting  country.  There  are  many  other 
things  which  I  will  tell  you-  which  can  not  go  down  in  cold  typewritten  sheets,  a 
and  I  also  have  a  fine  collection  of  photographs  with  which  to  illustrate  this 
atory,  which,  together,  when  I  may  explain  them,  we  will  go  over,  some  time. 


My  next  letter  will  be  on  my  travel  to  and  through  the  United  States  of 
Venezuela,  but  it  ought  hot  tc.beeas  ^aaitensfoEa  as  thus  one, -for,  as  my  part¬ 
ner  does  not  allow  me  to  forget ,  rA  month  from  now,  if  all  goes  well,  we  should 
be  in  New  York  and  cur  travels,  for  a  time,  at  least , ended.” 


GAYLORD  BROS. 

MAKERS 

SYRACUSE.  -  M.Y. 

PAT.  JAN.  21,  190* 


